Defamation overview.

Defamation is one of the most common causes for action to be taken against a journalist therefore it is important to be aware of it and well informed about it. When something is printed about somebody that may damage their reputation in the mind of right thinking members of society, this is defamation. It must be seen to lower peoples estimations of the person in question, it must be published to a third party and the person must be clearly identified.

Defamation can lead to people being shunned from society or avoided, it can discredit people in their trade or profession and it can expose people to ridicule and even hatred. We must look at these phrases to decide if somebody has been defamed.

Defamation is not necessarily bad . In many circumstances, defamation is in the public interest and needs to be reported. For example if a newspaper was to report that a public figure was sent to prison for murder, it would be damaging his reputation, however if it was true and can be proved, this is called justification. A journalist can still be sued if the story is true, this is why it is important to always have absolute empirical evidence for anything written. Privilege is another defence for journalists, if the news is in the interest of the public. This defence is slightly more risky however as it is often hard to define public interest. Defamation does not tend to be something that a journalist should worry about too much when reporting from court, in court, everybody has 'qualified privilege', the right to report what is said in court. AS LONG AS IT IS FAST, ACCURATE AND FAIR.  This also applies in parliament and in local council meetings.

If a Journalist was to defame somebody without justification, it is possible that they could correct it to appease the victim. They can include a correction in the newspaper stating that what they said was incorrect and often apologising. (This will be small, near the back of the newspaper and will rarely be seen.)

Purposefully saying something in order to damage a reputation or something that you know to be untrue is known as malice. This is illegal and should be avoided at all costs in journalism.