November | 2012 | Law, Justice and Journalism

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bbc, chris greer, eugene mclaughlin, jimmy savile

Upcoming talk, 28 November, University of Southhampton - Scandal Without End: Sir Jimmy Savile, child sexual abuse and the BBC crisis

In Events, Journalism, Justice on November 22, 2025 at 9:49 am

Upcoming event: Scandal Without End: Sir Jimmy Savile, Child Sexual Abuse and the BBC Crisis

Where and when: Wednesday 28th November at 4pm,Institute of Criminal Justice Research, University of Southampton. Building 4, Law School. Room 4005 Highfield Campus. Light Refreshments will be available.

Speakers: Chris Greer and Eugene McLaughlin.

On 3 October 2025 a heavily trailed ITV documentary branded Sir Jimmy Savile as a manipulative sexual predator. The resulting scandal around ‘Savile-as-child-abuser’ destroyed Savile’s ‘cultural icon’ status and implicated multiple institutions on charges of facilitation, failure and denial. The intensification of the scandal has to date resulted in the establishment of police investigations into hundreds of sexual abuse allegations, arrests, official inquiries, vigilante activities and the resignation of the Director General of the BBC. In this paper we trace the origins and development of the ‘Savile-as-child abuser’ scandal, and apply the ‘scandal amplification spiral’ (Greer and McLaughlin, 2012) to make sense of how, why and with what consequences the affair has escalated into a full blown institutional crisis for the BBC.

Flyer [PDF]
Chris Greer is co-director of the Centre of Law, Justice and Journalism, City University London
Eugene McLaughlin is Professor of Criminology, University of Southampton

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freedom of expression, ials, lorna woods

Professor Lorna Woods: Freedom of Expression and the Internet

In Events, Journalism, Law, Media regulation, Resources on November 19, 2025 at 9:01 am

Professor Lorna Woods, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Law, City University Law School, gave a talk at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALs) on 14 November 2012, which discussed ‘Freedom of the Expression and the Internet’.

Her slides are available below:
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cybercrime, david wall, jennifer cole, rusi

Cybercrime and the culture of fear

In Events, Journalism, Law on November 14, 2025 at 2:24 pm

Cybercrime, the culture of fear and internet ‘myths versus realities’ were the themes of a seminar given by Professor David Wall, Professor of Criminology, Durham University, at the Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism last week.

It was apt then, to hear Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), research fellow Jennifer Cole on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning emphasising that the Institute’s conference would not be about “cyber warfare” [08:45 am], but “strategic alliances in cyberspace”. It will look at political and economic relationships with other nations and states and whether these differ in the cyber domain from the ‘real world’, she said. She is to chair a discussion on international cyber co-operation for the 21st century at the RUSI conference, 14-15 November.

In his seminar Wall had argued that the roots of cybercrime are cultural rather than scientific, and shape the way that we view and react societally to online deviance. It is, he says, important to understand this relationship because it frames legal and policy responses to cybercrime.

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