Watering down of libel and privacy laws are not in the public interest
A number of cases in the business world and, of course, that of footballer John Terry have put British libel law back in the spotlight.
The use of libel law to force media retractions of untruths and injunctions to stop press intrusion into people’s private lives when there is no real national interest, has always been the very last resort. In honesty, both are used much more rarely than they could be.
In most cases, journalists want to get it right and will issue corrections quickly if you point out to them that a genuine error exists. However, there are a small number of cases where media are irresponsible and where they do trample over people’s privacy and lives in order to sell more of their wares.
Yes the law is flawed. If nothing else because it is so slow. But tales of libel ‘tourists’ don’t really stack up and the media only squeal because it means they can pay a very heavy price if they get something wrong. Well people, responsibility is the price of power. Whilst a small minority may be at fault, the damage done to people’s lives and to the staff and shareholders of businesses who are wronged is so serious that any significant watering down of our libel and privacy laws would most definitely NOT be in the public interest.
