Media Law Lecture 4 - Qualified Privilege

Well I have to say today's lecture was highly amusing due to Horrie's comical performance with props such as phones, elevating tables, microscopes and of course lighting... I cannot quite work out why I found it so amusing, but it is probably because of the entertaining facial expressions on Chris' face which reminds me of his daughter Lottie everytime :)

Anyway, we will ignore the phone ringing, let the lights turn off, but continue to learn about ...
...Qualified Privilege
When we are reporting about court or parliament, Journalists have QP as a defence. On the condition that we immediately publish it with no errors and no malice*, once again referring back to the tattoo in all us young journos brains "fast, accurate, fair".
*Malice = deliberately saying something you do not believe to be true - nasty nasty!

Absolute privilege will never be granted to a journalist, only Your Majesty The Queen is special enough and rebellious enough to obey no law.
Common Law Qualified Privilege is reporting only if it is in the public interest.
Statuary Qualified Privilege is where a balanced report must be given including the defence, if it is said in court.

Qualified privilege is lost unless you balance both sides of the story!!


The Reynolds Case
Lord Nicholls, who judged the appeal stage of Albert Reynolds Vs The Sunday Times, expanded the qualified privilege protection. This protects the publication of defamatory material provided it met three conditions:

• It is a matter of public interest
• It is a product of 'Responsible Journalism'
• The reporting was working without malice

Lord Nicholls set out a 10 point test, in order for the court to use when examining defences:

1. The seriousness of the allegation
2. The nature of the information
3. The source of the information
4. The steps taken to verify the information
5. The status of the information
6. The urgency of the matter 
7. Whether comment was sought from the claimant
8. Whether the article contained the gist of the claimants side of the story
9. The tone of the article
10. The circumstances of publication

Final Important Point...

As there is no legal definition of 'The public interest' the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) code of conduct is used - Public interest includes:

• Detecting or exposing crime
• Protecting public health and safety
• Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement

Just one more thing to add, (even though that means I lied when I said final point, then again I guess I didn't because the previous point was 'important') I am with all those other 3 million buyers of The Sun, Chris somehow manages to fill our lectures talking about the daily publication of The Sun, it's brilliant, I love it!