At 17:32 +0100 17/9/09, Sam Blacketer wrote:
On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Thomas Dalton
<<mailto:thomas.dalton@gmail.com>thomas.dalton@gmail.com> wrote:
2009/9/17 Michael Peel <<mailto:email@mikepeel.net>email@mikepeel.net>:
Plan to update libel law for web:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8259814.stm>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8259814.stm
Does anyone know what this means?
"Publishers of online archives and blogs might also be given a defence
of qualified privilege - that a piece is fair and accurate and
published without malice - against an offending article after a year
time limit has expired."
If it is fair, accurate and malice-free, then it isn't libellous
anyway, and doesn't need correcting.
This is talking about news reports or blog discussions of claims
made by third parties, eg "at the public meeting Joe Bloggs said
John Doe had accepted bribes and was corrupt".
Let's suppose John Doe was not corrupt and Joe Bloggs was just
trying to smear him. The report would still be libellous unless it
came under the Reynolds qualified privilege defence from case law,
but this is rather weak and difficult to qualify for. So the
proposal is to have a statutory defence.
--
Sam Blacketer
At 17:36 +0100 17/9/09, Thomas Dalton wrote:
Ah, so the report is accurate, but the thing being
reported is not.
That makes sense - thanks!
*********
Hunter S. Thompson tried a scam once. He started a rumour, and then
reported the rumour. His reporting was 100% valid and correct. But to
omit the fact that he started the rumour....
Now read on..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
<quot>In 1972, journalist Hunter S. Thompson accused democratic
candidate Edmund Muskie of being addicted to ibogaine in a satirical
piece. Many readers, and even other journalists, did not realize that
Thompson was being facetious. The claim, of course, was completely
unfounded, and Thompson himself is documented in the movie Gonzo: The
Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson discussing the
self-fabricated joke of Muskie's alleged ibogaine use and his
surprise that anyone actually believed the claim.</quot>
Gordo
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