Lecutre - Defamation - Defences

Lecutre - Defamation - Defences

1. Truth

2. Absolute privilege

   • LegCo
   • court proceedings and report
   • Husband & wife

3. qualified privilege

   • duty/interest
     • common eg
       • reporting a crime
       • solicitor/client commnication
       • employee/employer communications
       • reference letters
         • cf: Ming Kee
     • Only communicate to those who have interest in receiving
       • Do Prof's comments to SCMP attract QP defence?
     • Legal/social/moral defence
   • Defeated by malice
     • D x believe truth of statement / does not care (reckless indifference)
       • Ho Ping Kwong v Chan (1989)
     • D makes statement with improper motive (Druman)
       • eg: to injure, gain some advantage
       • improper motive must be dominant motive
     • s14 of Defamation Ordinance
       • statutory privilege for newspaper and broadcast reports of court and LegCo proceedings, public and other meetings

4. Public interest

   • Reynolds v Times Newspaper (1999)
     • may apply to matters of public importance
     • Lord Nicholls' 10 part test in Reynolds
   • Jameel (HK, 2006)
     • 1. matter of public interest?
     • 2. Inclusion of defamatory statement justifiable?
       • held: "part of the story"
     • 3. responsible journalism
   • Yaqoob v Asia Times Online Ltd CFI (2008)
   • Seaga v Harper PC [2009]
   • Blakeney- Williams v Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd CA [2011]

5. Honest Comment

   • Cheng v Tse (2000) HKCFA
     • comment on matter of public interest
     • comment recognizable as comment
     • based on true facts
     • indicates the facts on which the comment is based
     • comment could have been made by an honest person
     • NOW: malice/motive irrelevant
       • only question: did D honestly believe what she said/wrote?
   • Joseph v Siller SC (2011)
     • reduces partiulariation of facts needed for defences

6. statutory Defences

   • Defamation Ordinance, s4
     • Chu v Apple Daily