The new edition of the media law textbook McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists comes with a new companion website.

The book, the 18th edition, by Tom Welsh, Walter Greenwood and David Banks, is published by Oxford University Press.

It includes new coverage of the implications for the media of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, as well as new measures under the Freedom of Information Act, and other Acts.

It also contains a new, separate chapter for photographers, as well as tables of cases and legislative material.

But the major advance comes with the book’s link to a companion website:
www.oup.com/uk/booksites/law/media.

Speaking at the launch event for media law specialists and lecturers, organised by the NCTJ at the Law Society in central London, Penelope Woolf, editorial director of the higher education department at OUP said: “We are especially pleased that the new edition is accompanied by a web site featuring updates to the book which will keep it current between editions.”

OUP web editor Kate Hilton told media law tutors that the aim was to offer a print-online package for students and lecturers.

She said: “This will be updated regularly so that visitors can keep coming back to the site to stay informed of the latest developments.”

The law as it affected the media was now developing so rapidly that the site already contained a number of updates, she said.

The website also has a fuller explanation of the Official Secrets Acts as well as a table to help journalists work out if their stories are likely to contravene the Acts.

A password-protected area for lecturers – access is given to those who adopt the book for one of their courses – contains a bank of questions for assessing students, with questions for each chapter.

Walter Greenwood, Tom Welsh and David Banks