03/02/2020 Slater v Blomfield [2014] NZHC 2221; [2014] 3 NZLR 835 (12 September 2014) a website on which persons record information, experiences and opinions, and links to other sites on a regular basis. Blogs do not need to be personal websites, and are used by the mainstream media. Companies have blogs to inform customers or to advertise. Content varies widely, and can include the release of new information. It is common for a blog to involve posts about opinions which are updated on a frequent basis.25 Can a blog be a news medium? [43] Subsection (5) provides that a news medium:26 ... means a medium for the dissemination to the public or a section of the public of news and observations on news. (emphasis added) [44] The issue of whether Whale Oil is a news medium is important to the public, as at the time Mr Slater’s primary means of dissemination was that website. If Whale Oil was not a news medium he could not be a journalist. It is on this point of definition that Judge Blackie determined that Mr Slater was not a journalist. In his view, the Whale Oil website did not come within the definition of a news medium. The Judge cited27 part of a 2011 Law Commission’s issues paper (which did not relate to the Evidence Act but to the “New Media”) where it was said:28 However, blog sites are not democratic forums; as noted earlier they are often highly partisan and blog posts and commentary can be highly offensive 25. There is a helpful discussion of what is a blog by Judge David Harvey in Police v Slater [2011] DCR 6. 26. The definition of “news medium” is similar to that in s 2 of the Defamation Act 1992. It is different from that in s 2 of the Privacy Act 1992 and s 16 of the Personal Property Act 1999. The definition of “member of the media” in s 198(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 is different again. 27 At [16] and [17]. 28 Law Commission The News Media Meets ‘New Media’: Rights, Responsibilities and Regulation in the Digital Age (NZLC IP27, 2011) at [2.131]. and personally abusive. Ultimately, the blog administrator/author sets both the tone and the threshold for abusive speech. A person who has been denigrated or who had been subject to any false allegation on a blog site is entirely dependent on the blog’s administrator for any redress or corrective measures”[.] [45] The Law Commission’s 2011 paper relating to “New Media” did not indicate a view that the definition of “news medium” could not apply to a blog. In that issues paper the Commission expressly considered the scope of the definition of “news medium” and stated:29 That definition may be wide enough to encompass a blog or other website ... www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2014/2221.html 10/30