With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: An Analysis of the New Public Interest Defence to Defamation Claims

The New Zealand Court of Appeal recently gave judgment in Durie v Gardiner recognising a discrete public interest defence to defamation claims. The defence is a welcome addition to New Zealand’s defamation laws. This paper analyses the public interest defence. In particular, it evaluates whether the defence achieves the right balance between the rights of freedom of expression and protection of reputation, whether the defence would extend to criminal accusations, and why the Court of Appeal was correct in recognising it as a discrete one. It also explores how the defence could be applied to non-media defendants, such as social media users and bloggers. The recognition of reportage in New Zealand as a subset of the public interest defence and its difficulties is also discussed