Quick thread on the libel and privacy actions threatened against those who published the leaked #LabourReport. Firstly, libel. Ordinarily, if an organisation publishes arrowy of disciplinary investigations and proceedings, the media would feel safe in publishing it...
This is because they would have a defence of qualified privilege - this protects the media reporting so long as it is a fair, accurate report, on a matter of public interest, published without malice and subject to a right of reply, if requested...
This is a fundamental journalistic defence, it protects our reports of Parliament, of local government and of police press conferences, to name but a few. However, it protects information *published* by these bodies, not leaked...
The defences against a libel action for a leaked document are much trickier. QP does not apply, so you would have to rely on truth - ie you can prove all the allegations yourself, or the defence of publication in the public interest...
The defence of public interest, which was included in the Defamation Act 2013, sounds very straightforward - it says the publication needs to be on a matter of public interest, and that you believe it is in the public interest to publish it...
That sounds very straightforward doesn’t it? We’ll just say yes to both. But, as with many things in media law, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
The court will look at why you believed it was on the public interest - where did this information come from? What did you do to verify it from other sources? What was the tone of your report? Did you give the ‘target’ an opportunity to reply? It’s tricky.
Now, privacy and data protection. Here the defence hinges again on the public interest. The court will ask was it really in the public interest to divulge private information, could you have done it without revealing personal data. Was your behaviour proportionate?
This is going to be interesting if it gets to court.
*sigh* and now I spot the error on the first bloody tweet - arrowy? - that’s not even a word, should be ‘a report’
And of course, if you want me to write a piece about this for you, drop me a line. I promise to minimise typos.
