Press watchdog to establish working group to push for reform following Hockey verdict
APC chairman Weisbrot
The Australian Press Council (APC) are proposing to lobby for reforms to defamation laws in the wake of Joe Hockey’s action against Fairfax.
Chairman David Weisbrot today told Mumbrella “substantial changes” to the defamation law are needed after Fairfax Media was yesterday ordered to pay 15 per cent of the Treasurer’s legal fees, with the print/online watchdog saying it is planning to form a task group to prepare a case for changes to defamation laws.
“We are proposing to get a group together to take a proposal to parliament calling for substantial changes to defamation laws,” said Weisbrot. Hockey was last month awarded $200,000 in damages for the headlines used in a poster and on Twitter “Treasurer for sale”, which failed to contain the full context of the story, however the court ruled that the substance of the actual news articles when viewed in context was not defamatory, leading to yesterday’s partial costs decision.
horse ….. stable door …….bolted !
I dont think the decision is such a big dea in the context of existing lawl. Just make sure your tweets and headlines arent defamatory. Hockey is no political Robinson Crusoe in taking scuh action as Neville Wran and Bob Hawke used to boast of their successes in the field. In the broader picture a defamation law reform should give a US style result which makes it much harder for public figures to take such action.