NCTJ - Media Law - Defamation fully solved

NCTJ - Media Law - Defamation Truth - correct answer (formerly Justification) Must show that the imputation (ie implications/innuendos) conveyed by the statement is substantially true If one or more of the imputations is not shown to be substantially true The defence does not fail if those imputations do not seriously harm the claimants reputation What can the truth defence only be applied to? - correct answer Using the defence can only be applied to statements of fact and not opinion You must convince the court that the statement is more than likely to be true than false Proving the statement published was true 'substance and fact' will give you a COMPLETE DEFENCE Difficulties and risks in Truth defence - correct answer Difficulty of proving main 'imputations' (including innuendoes) of claims in published material Supplying physical/documentary evidence - getting signed statements or even affidavits Availability and reliability of witnesses Truth example - correct answer 1994. Taylforth v The Sun: Gillain Taylforth was suggested to have been giving oral sex to her then boyfriend. Police spotted her and The Sun published it. She sued for libel then her case was destroyed due to a drunken video of her claiming to 'give good head' whilst using a sausage and a wine bottle. This cost her £500,000 worth of legal bills Honest opinion - correct answer Formely 'fair comment' New criteria developed via common law and precedent - 2013 Act: Honest Opinion in statute Must be clearly recognisable as a comment/opinion not a factual statement or allegation Must be an honestly held opinion Based on provably true facts or privileged material Must explicitly or implicitly indicate the facts on which it is based in general terms