Qualified Privilege

Qualified Privilege is to a journalist what a scrum hat is to a second rower in Rugby. It gives them the protection they need to peform at the peak of their game. However for players to jutify wearing them, they have to be brave and play well, just as journalist's have to be FAST, ACCURATE and FAIR with immediate publication and with no errors or malice.

In its purest form qualified privelege means exemption from the law, which is something that judges have while they are within a courtroom. The Queen is an example of somebody who constantly posseses qualified privelege-as she is above the law. If the Queen decided to kill someone it wouldn't be classed as murder, but she doesn't scare me much!

If you are to publish something defamatory about someone, you need a defence to avoid legal action against you.
One of the main defences is 'Justification'. This essentially means that if you can prove something is true you can't lose. For example the Newspapapers that posted stories about Ryan Giggs being a love cheat were in the clear, because they could prove it was true, despite Giggs claming privacy.

Another key defense for journalist's is that of 'Comment'. This means that you have the freedom to defame someone if it is written in such a way that it clearly written as opinion and not as fact. For example insulting a television personality in a feature piece in a broadsheet is OK, as it is recognised as comment.

The key thing to remember as a journalist though when reporting on something which may be deemed defamatory is to ensure that what you report on is in the public interest.
Public Interest is argued in a legal case to justify information being published. (McNae, 2009). It is important to understand the difference between the genuine public interest (i.e protecting the safety of the public, exposing crime, and preventing the public from being mislead by an important figure)and news which may be of great interest to the public but is essentially tittle tattle (most obvious within 'kiss and tell stories'.

Journalist's are strongly advised to abide to the 10 point test of media law, so its only right that I put them on my blog!
1) Seriousness of the allegation
2) The nature of information
3) The source of information
4) The steps taken to verify of the matter
5) The status of information
6) The urgency of the matter
7) Whether comment was sought from the claimant
8) Whether the article contained the gist of the claimant's side of the story
9) The tone of the article
10) The circumstances of the publication

When reporting news, you will almost always stay on the safe side as long as you abide to the above 10 points and are fast, accurate and fair in doing so.