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Is libel reform now really possible?

@dw: They do have reputations, though, and libel seeks to protect reputations not "feelings". Mr Green simply does not establish that private companies should be treated the same as public authorities. There is a clear policy ground for refusing a right to sue for defamation to public authorities: it is central to democracy that public bodies can be discussed fully. If democracy is the right to take part in communal living then the agencies that regulate communal living must be fully open to interpretation in any way possible. Their financial fortunes must come second to this. Private bodies are different. By definition we do not all have an equal interest in the very nature of their individual existences. They exist for profit, and so harm to their reputation goes to the core of their purpose. In the absence of other compelling policy grounds their reputations can be vindicated.

25-Mar-2010

1:12 am