Defamation: True Lies or False Truths?
Image Source: divisionstreet.wordpress.com
We live in a litigious world.
You don’t believe it? Pick up a newspaper. Any newspaper. Or for that matter even a current affairs magazine. Go through it. You will find at least one story on defamation. Chances are that you will find another story which has the potential to be labelled as defamatory.
Defamation has often been referred to disparagingly as unsubstantiated gossip or half truths or half lies. Defamation has no statutory definition. In the UK and in many other countries as well, the defamation law differentiates between libel and slander. Libel is defamation in a permanent form (published or broadcast), and slander is a temporary form of defamation, usually by spoken word, disparaging gestures or actions.
Generally, the privacy of an ordinary citizen is protected under the law. The following video presents an interesting case of ‘breach’ of privacy law in Canada.
A recent article in The Birmingham Post claims that defamation cases have increased by 500% in the last 6 months or so. This has significant implications for PR professionals and other communicators.
PR practitioners must always been on their guard against defamatory stories against their clients, and against invasions of their privacy. Even though going to court could be an option and lawyers could very well win the defamation case for the clients, the public image of the clients often suffers irreparable damage.
This is where the communication skills of PR practitioners and their contacts with the media play a very crucial role.
In an article for PRWeek, Alex Blyth says that PR practitioners need to get involved much before the lawyers in high profile libel cases. He cites examples of PR interventions leading to potentially libellous stories never being published, and therefore lawsuits being avoided.
The costs involved in defamation cases can be extremely high due to which publishers, both newspaper and book, are extremely wary of publishing anything even potentially libellous.
Endnote: It is not uncommon for publishers to get manuscripts vetted by their legal and PR/marketing departments before even signing a contract with the author. I have myself sought legal opinion on 2 manuscripts.
Tags: Defamation, Law, Libel, Privacy Law, Slander
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
December 27, 2008 at 7:18 pm
would have never come to know about the difference between libel and slander if it weren’t for your blog! You could use this blog as a teaching tool!