Training and advisory services in media law, social media and crisis management
Welcome to David Banks Media Law Consultancy.
Helping you avoid the risks while getting the best out of 21st century digital media is what we do, with tailored training for your organisation.
Talking to your audience has never been easier, but it comes with legal and ethical risks – that’s where we come in with effective, entertaining, memorable training in the potential dangers and how best to avoid them.
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:
Maintaining the spontaneous, conversational nature of podcasts, often tackling controversial topics , while at the same time keeping on the right side of the law can be quite a challenge.
This training session covers the main legal and ethical issues that can crop up for those producing podcasts. It is suitable for anyone taking part in a podcast as a presenter or guest and is also suitable for those producing and editing podcasts before they go live. The session also covers the issues that can occur when livestreaming.
Course aims: To provide those taking part in and producing podcasts with a good working knowledge of the laws that apply to such content. The course will enable anyone attending to understand when to edit content to make it legally safe, while maintaining the spontaneous and conversational nature of the podcast.
Topics covered: Libel, contempt of court, privacy and data protection, copyright, sexual offence anonymity, media ethics.
Delivery: The course can be delivered at your premises, or online via Zoom video conference.
Details: If you would like further information or would like to book this training, please email davidbanksmedialaw@gmail.com. I also provide a legal checking service for podcasters. I will listen to your podcast pre-broadcast, or read a script, and highlight any legal issues that it might create, with clear, succinct guidance on how they might be avoided.
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.
All the the courses listed on the training page are deliverable as online courses via video-conference.
David has been delivering distance learning packages for 15 years and this option is very popular for those who cannot attend training sessions; or for companies whose staff are split across a variety of locations.
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.
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David Banks Media Law 