More lecture notes on Defamation and Qualified Privilege

Just like every start to a Law lecture we discussed this morning's headlines, today's choice was an article featuring in the 'Sun' that quoted Adele for calling herself: ''common as muck'' We all agreed that since Adele is quoted to have said this, therefore the 'Sun' aren't at risk of being sued, even if technically the story they posted is LIBEL . This is because Adele is identified in the article and the story and her picture have both been  published in the newspaper and is therefore also an example of defamation since the fact that Adele is 'common' could cause her to be shunned and discredited in her profession as a singer. However, the article's headline states that Adele has called herself 'common as muck' so therefore she is technically committing defamation against herself. Therefore Malice is transferred since the 'Sun' has quoted Adele as defaming herself.

We then moved on to discuss the two different types of Privilege:

• Statuary Qualified Privilege
• Common Law Qualified Privilege

Qualified Privilege is when it is made up by judges and not a statue and is based on the idea of 'the Common Convenience and welfare of Society.'' which in simpler terms is Public Interest. This Privilege is shown through the story of Toogood vs Spyring in 1834. A man accused his butler of stealing silver so he fired him and wrote him a terrible reference stating that he is  a thief. The butler felt that it was his right to sue his previous employer since there was no justification or proof that the Butler stole the silver. However, the butler lost his case since the Judge believed that if this man is a thief that it is in the Public's best interest that people are warned that the Butler is a 'thief. ' This decision was apparently made for the greater good.

There was a similar story which involved Albert Reynolds vs the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times newspaper got itself into a spot of trouble when they said that the Irish Prime Minister lied to the Irish Government in order to cover up a child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. The paper believed this to be true whereas Reynolds was outraged and challenged the allegations since he believed them to be untrue and without any witnesses, forensic evidence.
When it came to court the Judge disagreed with Reynolds and said that he believed that it wasn't only the paper's right to publish the allegations but also their duty to publish it since according to the Judge they seemed to be reasonable and very much in the Public Interest.

The only person who has Absolute Privilege is the Queen therefore a journalist must include both sides of a story and make sure it has a fair balance otherwise you lose the Privilege.