How to challenge a ban on naming a mental health patient

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

UTS colleague Associate Professor Tom Morton, ABC lawyer Hugh Bennett and I will deliver a paper in Melbourne next week on our experiences applying to the Mental Health Tribunal of NSW for permission to name a forensic mental health patient in an ABC documentary and in our academic works.

The occasion is the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference, hosted by the Centre for Media and Communications Law at the University of Melbourne Law School, November 23-24. The full program is here. I plan to blog a few of the highlights of the sessions I attend.

Our paper is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ and we present on the first morning of the conference. Here is its abstract:

News and current affairs reportage about forensic mental health cases raises a host of competing interests, including the public’s right to know about mental health tribunal processes; a patient’s right to privacy, treatment, and recovery; and victims’ and the broader community’s interest in learning the longer term consequences of a publicised serious criminal act. This article details a case study of the legal processes involved in applications for permissions to identify a forensic mental health patient in NSW in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National Background Briefing documentary ‘The Man Without a Name’ and in subsequent research blogs and scholarly works including this article. It begins by backgrounding the restrictions on publicising mental health tribunal cases in Australia, summarising the case study, examining the specific restrictions applying to the Mental Health Review Tribunal in NSW, detailing the processes followed in the successful application by the authors to name the patient, comparing the case with Australian and British cases, and making some recommendations for further research and reform.

Tom and I recently co-authored an article on the ethics of that same experience in Pacific Journalism Review, titled ‘Zones of silence: Forensic patients, radio documentary, and a mindful approach to journalism ethics’. Here is our abstract. Full contents of the edition and subscription details can be seen here. Reference: Morton, T. and Pearson, M. (2015). Zones of silence: Forensic patients, radio documentary, and a mindful approach to journalism ethics. Pacific Journalism Review, 21(2), 11-32.

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Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.

© Mark Pearson 2015