Don't British and US law differ in this regard? --jpgordon
On 5/5/05, slimvirgin@gmail.com slimvirgin@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/5/05, Delirium delirium@hackish.org wrote:
slimvirgin@gmail.com wrote:
This is perhaps an inappopriate discussion to have in public because a legal action has been threatened, but in brief, the fact that you report, but do not endorse, a claim is not a defense in a libel action. If you spread it, you spread it.
It actually is a defense, as long as you report who has alleged it, not claim yourself it is true. Newspapers report on libel cases all the time: "X has alleged Y about Z, and Z has sued X for libel in response". The newspaper cannot be sued in that case simply because it said "X has alleged Y about Z"---even if Y is false, the fact that X alleged Y is true.
Newspapers can claim privilege in certain situations in most jurisdictions. You can report that a libel action has been brought, for example, so long as there are no publication restrictions. But if your source Jane Doe telephones you and says: "John Smith is a shoplifter," and you report that, even if your report distances your newspaper from the allegation, it's still actionable.
Sarah _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l