Class 8: 19 March 2012

Libel/Defamation 2

What roles do malice, motive and mistake play in libel cases? What are the defenses of justification, fair comment and privilege? How are damages assessed? Under what circumstances can a journalist face criminal libel?
Case Studies:
Public officials/figures
–New York Times v. Sullivan 1964 (US) (actual malice standard, public officials)
–Fan Zhiyi v. Oriental Sports Daily 2002 (Shanghai Jing’an District Court) (public person) and Yu Qiuyu v. Xiao Xialin (Beijing Dongcheng District Court)
Qualified privilege:
–Reynolds v. Times Newspapers 1999 (U.K) (responsible reporting and public interest)
–Jameel v. Wall Street Journal Europe 2006 (UK) (clarification of Reynolds defense);
–Abdul Razzak Yaqoob v. Asia Times Online 2008 (HK application of Reynolds defense)
–Grant v. Torstar Corp 2009 (Canada) (qualified privilege for “responsible communication”)
Fair Comment:
–Eastweek v. Claudia Mo 1999 (HK)(fair comment and malice)
–Albert Cheng v. Tse Wai Chun 2000 (HK)(fair comment, revised definition of malice)
–Next Magazine v. Ma Ching Fat 2003 (HK)(application of Cheng)
–Spiller v Joseph, 2010 (UK, adoption of “honest comment” standard); British Chiropractic Association v. Singh, 2010
–Lingens v Austria 1986 (ECHR, restrictions on opinion/value judgments violated Article 10 of European Convention on Human Rights)