Defamation

Defamation is one of the biggest risks to journalists working today.

Defamation is described as the wrongful harming or damaging of a person's reputation. Defamation suits allow for people to protect their "good name".

Three things are needed to prove an accusation of defamation:
1) Publication - make something known to another person or making it available to be known to another person.
2) Identification - people claiming to have been defamed need to prove that they can be identified in association with the defamatory statement. This does not just mean publishing a name. Defamatory identification can come from addresses, occupation, physical description, etc.
3) Defamatory material - defamatory material is anything that: holds a person to ridicule, could damage a reputation, could cause other people to think less of the subject of the defamatory material, or cause others to shun or avoid an individual as a result of defamatory material.

The Artemus Jones case is worth referring to when looking at defamation, as an example of unintentional defamation. Artemus Jones, a barrister, successfully sued a London newspaper after they published a fictitious article about a philandering, "party boy" lawyer by the name of "Artemus Jones". The article was not about the actual person Artemus Jones, but he was able to prove that other people believed the article to be about him and that had resulted in his name being defamed.

Large groups and organisations, to a point, cannot sue for defamation. They can, however, sue for things like negligent misstatement, injurious falsehood, breach of confidence, etc. Non-profit organisations, individuals associated with larger companies, and companies with fewer than ten employees can sue for defamation.

Tasmania is the only state in Australia that a deceased individual can sue or be sued for defamation. That being said, it is still possible to defame a living person by associating them with a deceased individual with the questionable behaviour of a deceased person.

Defamatory material can be produced in a number of ways including: written, spoken and broadcasted but also mime, street theatre, painting and cartooning.

The internet has also complicated defamation as it blurs the lines of jurisdictions and different jurisdictions have different defamation laws. Refer to the Gutnick case for more information.

A journalist has five major defences to accusations of defamation: truth, fair report, qualified privilege, political qualified privilege and honest opinion/fair comment.