Mr. Rory Montgomery:

On the difference between online and print, a lot of the cases we have concern publications which have both an online dimension, as many in the area will do, and print. We had one case at appeal level when Ms McKay's predecessor, Mr. Peter Feeney, was in office and it was interesting because it is far easier to correct an online publication. A mistake can be corrected immediately by changing the online version. With print that is not the case. A correction has to be published somewhere. We had an interesting question where the previous ombudsman had held that a publication had not published a sufficiently adequate apology and correction. We took the view, as a council, that in fact it had taken the appropriate action by changing the article and by highlighting that particular point.

Interestingly, there have been negotiations at EU level between the Council and the Parliament on anti-SLAPP legislation. That is now very close to completion and will set a European framework for these things, and it ought to mean at the minimum - of course the UK is not part of the European Union and is the principal external market for us - that we, at a European level at least, will be singing from the same hymn sheet.