Comment. Fact. Lie.
As a journalist it may be a slippery slope between these three, but the ability to differentiate between them is vital.
Comment: Any comment based article needs to be clearly shown to be opinion (writing COMMENT in large, red letters across the top of the page is entirely acceptable)and must be somewhat based on fact. As a defence, the proof that an article was in the public interest to be published is also key.
Lie: This is easy enough to understand - NEVER LIE. The likelihood of getting away with a bare-faced lie in professional journalism is very slim. Malice is unforgivable in court - your defence will not be accepted if the defendant can prove what you have written is untrue.
Fact: As a journalist, the best route to go down is writing facts - a provable story, with strong evidence, will allow you to use justification as a defence, should you ever need to.
As the quote goes, "Comment is cheap. Fact is priceless."
From Tuesdays lecture, the point that stood out to me the most is the huge detrimental effect that defamation can possess. It struck me that anything can be defamatory, even a statement as simple as 'Horrie was late' (which, I'd like to point out, is used purely as an example). I think it is important to define defamation, so I've outlined McNae's definition below.
A statement is defamatory if it:
- exposes a person to hatred, ridicule or contempt
- causes a person to be shunned or avoided in society
- discredits a person in their trade or profession (if a person successfully sues for this, a sum can be attached as compensation for their lack of wage)
- or generally lowers a person's standing in society to any 'right-minded' person
And remember, libel is defamation, publication and identification.
No comments:
Post a Comment