Defamation and Libel

Everyone has the right to their reputation. Your reputation is made up facts about you; such as your qualifications, and your bodily statistics. The rest of your reputation is made up of the opinions of people who have met you, such as your lecturers and teachers. If you defame somebody you can face being sued, and there has been a large number of high profile cases over the years, where libel victims have sued newspapers for thousands of pounds.

A statement is defamatory if it does any of the following things;
Lowers the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking people
Causes them to be shunned or avoided
Disparages them in their business, trade or profession
Exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt.

However Defamation is only one of the aspects of a Libel case. The defamatory statement also has to be published, (written down, or in video). To officially be defamation it is has to have been communicated to at least one other person, which of course in journalism isn't particularly hard to prove as publication is so widespread. The claimant also has to be identified so far that a reasonable person would recognise that he or she is being referred to.
It is important to recognise that in court the claimant doesn't have to prove that the statement is false, as this is already assumed. Journalists have a defence if the statement is true and they can prove that it’s true.
The 'Reynolds Defence' can protect a publisher in some circumstances, when the untrue statement is in the public interest. The Reynolds defence aka 'The Ten Point Test is as follows;
1) Seriousness of the allegation
2) Nature of Information
3) Source of Information
4) The steps taken to verify the information
5) The status of information
6) The urgency of the matter
7) Whether comment was saught by 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

If all of these points are met you can use this as a defence.

A Libel case that has been in the news recently is that of Morrissey. He is claming that he was defamed in 2007 by the music magazine NME where they deliberately twisted his words, and made him seem racist. If true this is clearly defamatory because a public figure is being made out to be a racist could lead to him being exposed to hatred, ridicule or contempt and generally lowers him in the eyes of a right-thinking member of society. The defence claim that there is no evidence to show that Morrissey’s reputation was harmed by the publication.
This case highlights how complex Libel Law's are and proves that you should always take measures to ensure you are not defaming somebody in your work as you can be sued for a lot of money and it can be very harmful to your own career.