"Public statements in the law of defamation"

Abstract

This is a tale of two interests. Interests which come into collision in the form of defamatory statements and which the law of defamation seeks to adjust in a mutually beneficial arrangement. These interests are those indicated in the two quotations above: a lie always leaves some scar, and no person has a right to a reputation he does not deserve. As with all forms of law, the balance has varied over the years, responding to the particular needs of the time and the stage of development of society. With the changing form of society the aims and approach of the law have altered, and the type of defamation dealt with by modern courts is often very different from that before the courts in the days of George the Fourth when the law started developing towards its present form. To a considerable extent the days of George the Fourth were pre-industrial, more leisured, less democratic in government, and without mass communications. It was the era of the local newspaper. All this has changed. Today is the era of the national and international press, the era of instantaneous communication across the globe. The word spoken on a television screen may have originated a few milli-seconds earlier in Downing Street or Pennsylvania Avenue. Today's mass communications systems depend on speed. The news must be "hot", must be interesting, and must be presented in a way that demonstrates the special value of the medium concerned. The three modern media (newspaper, broadcasting and television) have each a special value and special strengths in presenting the news. Society cannot afford to deprive itself of one of these media as a result of litigation. The failure, say, of the newspaper industry deprives society of the special value and contribution of that medium. In New Zealand there may be little competition between newspapers, but the law should not be such that newspapers are effectively prevented from "playing to their strengths", for to do so would be to run a grave risk of forcing newspapers into liquidation. This issue of "media survival is central to this study.