View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
July 2, 2007

Case sets worrying precedent for journalists’ contacts

By Press Gazette

The court in the case between journalist Junior Isles and his former employer PennWell Publishing (Press Gazette p1 22 June) recognised an important distinction between personal journalistic contacts that are updated and kept separately from those that are used in the course of employment.

The disputed list had not been exclusively provided to Isles at the start of his employment.

It was effectively a hybrid of contacts which he had gathered and maintained himself from material brought with him when he started his new job and other contacts which were built up during the course of, and for the purposes of, his employment with Pennwell.

In this case, the contact details included telephone numbers and email addresses that had been stored on a company email system.

The judge did not accept that the contact list was something that could be thought of as personal to Isles, such as a private address book, which had been selectively added to, and maintained for, the purposes of his career rather than as part of his job.

The judge recommended that employers should generally ensure that a clear email policy regarding ownership of contact information be provided to employees. This would ensure that journalists understand what information will remain the property of the employer after their employment has ended.

However, the judge did acknowledge that had the disputed contact list been kept separately, in the form of a personal address list, to which journalistic contacts had been added for career purposes rather than employment purposes, he would have concluded that Isles was entitled to develop and maintain such a list.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

In practical terms, the judge’s decision means that journalists need to ensure that contacts they bring with them to a new company are preserved and that they will be entitled to retain them when they leave.

The judgment highlights the importance for journalists to be aware of any terms in their employment contracts or company email policy relating to the use of contact information brought with them and subsequently developed in the course of their work. There may be express provisions that restrict the use of information once the journalist has left that employer.

Journalistic contacts developed before starting with a new employer and obtained other than as part of that employment should be kept separately. This could be done either electronically in a spreadsheet file, such as Excel or the old fashioned way in a hard copy private address book.

The judgment suggests that on leaving an employer, contact details incorporated into the work database, for example in an email system such as Outlook, and that were used in the course of that employment, might reasonably be held to be the property of the employer.

The judge accepted if it could be shown that information consisted of either private family contacts or journalistic sources from the journalist’s previous resources, then they should be entitled to them.

The distinction between personal journalistic contacts and those made while working for an employer is clearly an important one that reinforces the need for journalists to keep contact lists separate to avoid ownership battles

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network