Libel liberation
Meanwhile, tweeters and bloggers have got extra protection from libel claims that could get them out of trouble if they are critical of a celeb or politician, for example, online.
According to The Independent, the Supreme Court has bolstered its defense of ‘fair comment' which means defamation defendants don't have to prove every fact that backs up their criticism or comment, dragging libel laws into the 21st century.
The law change has come about after a bookings agency said a band it represented was unprofessional and after much legal wrangling, the case found its way to the Supreme Court.
Lord Walker reportedly said: "The defence of fair comment (now to be called honest comment) originated in a narrow form in a society very different from today's. It was a society in which writers, artists and musicians were supposed to place their works, like wares displayed at market, before a relatively small, educated and socially elevated class, and it was in the context of published criticism of their works that the defence developed."
"Millions now talk, and thousands comment in electronically transmitted words, about recent events of which they have learned from television or the internet," he added.
Lord Phillips, the head of the Supreme Court, reportedly said: "There is a case for reform. Would it not be more simple and satisfactory if in place of the objective test, the onus was on the defendant to show that he subjectively believed that his comment was justified by the facts on which he based it? There may be a case for widening the scope of the defence of fair comment by removing the requirement that it must be on a matter of public interest."
