In my defence...

There are four main defences against libel that a journalist must know about in case they get into any trouble after printing a controversial story. If the journalist in question has taken the necessary steps whilst researching their story then they will be able to justify their work with the following defences:

Justification
You cannot be sued for your comment if what you have posted is true.
In the defence of justification, the journalist in question would have to be able to prove that what they had written was true.

In 2008 former race car driver Max Mosley was outed by The News of the World as having sadomasochistic sex with prostitutes. Mosley was unable to sue for libel because the story was true and there was evidence to prove it. He did however manage to sue The news of the World for invading his private life. Under article 8 of the Human Rights Act, every person is entitled to a private and family life.

Justification is not only needed when a complete truth is told but is also necessary in cases where an event is inferred or an innuendo is used.


Fair Comment
The defence of Fair Comment protects publishes opinions as long as:

• The comment is the honest opinion of the person making it
• The comment is based on fact
• The comment is worded so it is understood to be a comment
• The fact that comment is based on is mentioned in the article (unless the fact is widely known)
• The fact that the comment is based on is in the public interest
• The comment is made without malice

If a comment is made that is not the commenter's true opinion and it is made with intent to injure then the commenter can be sued for malice.


Privilege
On some occasions, the public interest demands complete freedom of speech. This is known as privilege. Privilege exists under common law and stature.

Absolute Privilege:
If you have absolute privilege you cannot be sued for anything you say whether it be true or false, spoken with intent to injure or not. However, a journalist may be reporting on an occasion that is protected by an absolute privilege but their work may not be.

Members of Parliament are protected by absolute privilege when they are in the house of commons. However reports on discussions held here are protected by qualified privilege. In the case of qualified privilege, the work published must be fair, accurate, published without malice and must allow the right of reply. Unlike absolute privilege, the work published must not necessarily be contemporaneous.

The only time that journalists have absolute privilege is when they are reporting on a court case or are in the proceedings in certain types of tribunals. The only requirement is 'A fair and acurate report of judicial proceedings held in public within the United Kingdom, published contemporaneously.'*

*Banks, David and Mark Hanna, McNae's Essential Law for Journalists 20th edition, Oxford University Press, 2009.