Services

Anyone in traditional publishing – newspapers, magazines or books – needs to know the law. Now anyone with a website, or using social media, needs to understand the laws that apply to them.

We are all publishers now, and subject to the multiple laws in this area. Good training in the risks and what to do about them can help avoid costly and time-consuming legal problems.

We advise private and public sector organisations on safe and effective use of social media.

Social Media Policies and Guidelines

We write social media guidelines and policy documents for use by organisations whose staff use social media.

These easy-to-use, plain-English guides highlight the main pitfalls of these media and what to do to avoid them, in an accessible format. They cover use of organisations’ official social media accounts, as well as personal use by staff.

We provide editorial legal guidance to clients on an ad hoc or retained basis. This includes:

• a pre-publication copy-checking service for clients concerned about possible legal problems in their publication, broadcast or website.
• assisting publishers and broadcasters with letters and representations to be made to oppose court orders or gain access to hearings.
• These services can be offered to organisations at a board level where editorial legal expertise is needed.

We have been providing training services in the university sector for more than ten years. This has involved working with students’ unions and their media societies as well as university comms teams and staff.

Law for Student Media – The course covers the range of subjects and issues that can arise for student publications and broadcasters. The session covers the law for print, online and broadcast content and uses many examples drawn from student media cases.

The UK has some of the toughest restrictions on what you can publish in the world. Staying up to date with what you can and cannot say legally has always been something that traditional publishers have had to focus on.

Today, the number of businesses and individuals who are publishers has exploded. Anyone uploading content to a website, contributing to social media or producing industry white papers is, in effect, a publisher and is exposed to exactly the same laws as traditional news media.

David has worked in UK regional and national newspapers, magazines and their associated websites for 30 years.

He has written for The Guardian, the Daily Mirror, the New Statesman, The Independent The International Business Times and Hello! magazine on media law, journalism, ethics, regulation and social media.

He is available for commissions and can work to tight deadlines to produce content for your publication or website.

To discuss a commission email David at davidbanksmedialaw@gmail.com.