Are courts or journalists better qualified to decide when there is a ‘public interest’ in publishing a given story?

Freedom of Expression, the Law, and the Media

The following is a list of topics chosen by students who have done well on this assessment in previous years. The idea of this list is to give you some sense of what kind of topics are likely to work, and possibly to give you some inspiration in choosing your own topic. Ideally, you won’t choose to research exactly the same topic as any of the examples below.
o Should there be a public interest defence to crimes involving unauthorized disclosure of government secrets?
o Are journalists ever under an ethical obligation to break the law?
o Should the ‘single meaning rule’ in defamation law be abolished? If so, what should it be replaced with?
o How effectively does IPSO protect public figures from unwarranted intrusion into their private lives by the press?
o Should the law treat ‘artistic’ expression differently to other kinds of expression?
o An analysis of recent Parliamentary reports on social media regulation.
o Should companies be allowed to sue in defamation?
o Does it matter who owns media companies?
o Are courts or journalists better qualified to decide when there is a ‘public interest’ in publishing a given story?
o Does English copyright law protect the interests of street artists?