The Journal, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

How legal actions for defamation arise, what a complainant has to show to win a libel case, what he/she does not have to show and who can sue. An understanding of the risk of committing defamation is of fundamental importance in journalism, but little that the working journalist or student journalist needs to know is enshrined in statute. The law is largely founded on precedent and that which is considered defamatory will vary from time to time, community to community- and from person to person. Students are often asked to learn by rote a series of guidelines and an ever-growing list of cases and precedents, but this does not embed the learning they require how to analyse a report and evaluate any risk of defamation in the light of what is written / broadcast and the context in which it is to appear. The approach presented here encourages discovery of the principle