England
Landmark victory for investigative journalismPosted Oct 25 2006
The House of Lords ruled Oct. 11 in favor of the Wall Street Journal in a libel case citing the Reynolds privilege. The Reynolds privilege serves as a defense against libel for journalists who report responsibly and believe their facts are correct at the time of publication, but at a later date cannot prove their information to be true. A lower court had ruled that the Journal couldn't rely on the privilege. The ruling said public interest and responsible journalism are key for using the Reynolds privilege as defense. Traditionally, an old common law duty/interest test was required in libel cases. The court would consider if the media defendant had either a social or moral duty to report the information and if the public had an interest in receiving it. The Guardian reported, “It is no longer necessary for the media defendant to show, as well, that it had a social or moral duty to publish the article because if the publication is in the public interest then the duty and interest elements are already satisfied.”
http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/comment/0,,1892896,00.html