How to Identify Defamation - 3 major things necessary for defamation to occur; publication, imputation, identification.
For Defamation to occur there has to be an act of publication making something known to another or making it available to be known to another. Applies to broadcasting. Defamation laws can also be applied to the public. What is PUBLISHED cannot be unpublished.
Defamatory Imputation - Australia's uniform Defamation Act does not spell out what defamatry imputation is. Basically it is anything that may disparage a person's reputation, cause ordinary people to think less of a person, hold a person up to ridicule, cause other to think something of a person that may not necessarily be true. All these = defamation.
Defamatory Identification - A person claiming that they have been defamed will have to be able to establish that he or she can be identified in connection with the offending material. This does not mean that it is necessary to name people to identify them.
Who cannot be identified - Groups and organisation cannot be defamed (up to a point)
Who cannot be defamed - Corporations of less than 10 people, non-profit organisations and individuals can be associated with larger companies.
Companies, corporations or public bodies barred from taking defamation actions can still sue for negligent misstatement, injurious falsehood, and breaches of the Trade Practice Act.
How can Defamation occur - You do not need to write or say something to publish a defamation. Mime, Street Theatre, Painting, Cartoons = All capable of conveying defamatory information.
The meaning of words - This is a landscape littered with traps for the unwary... Your intentions and intended meaning do not matter and will not stand as evidence within a court.
Literally stating the meaning of the word - Mrs Smith is frequently beaten by her hushband.
Mrs Smith's wife is frequently observed to be battered and bruised.
Mr Smith's wife is frequently observed coming in and out of the hotel on the corner.
Watch a Media Watch episode that was featured in class - Andrew Bold and the Herald Sun on Trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment