Libel, Defamation, Fair Comment, facts, mistakes, defence...

CanOz said:

What exactly are you looking for? Are you worried that someone on the forum is guilty of this, or is this for the mods?

Cheers,

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noirua said:

I can forsee some interesting cases ahead as the US Federal Law "single publication Law" seems to differ from New Zealand Law. It seems that the Gutnick v Dow Jones case in Australia is accepted and used in New Zealand.
http://www.ajpark.co.nz/library/2005/03/oseas_website_defamation_laws.php

Gutnick v Dow Jones: http://www.iael.org/publications/IAEL_article_Gibson.pdf

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On Seven's opposition breakfast show last week they were having troubles of their own - and it began with David Koch being blokey with football commentator Mark Beretta after the Wallabies'* loss in Cape Town.

David Koch: What happened to the boofhead? Did anything happen to him for holding him in backplay?
Mark Beretta: No.
David Koch: No.
Mark Beretta: Except he’s been called a boofhead on Australian television.

Next morning Dave and Melissa Doyle reported complaints about bad language.

Melissa Doyle: Well that got us thinking: just what sort of language offends these days? Sue Butler is from the Macquarie Dictionary. Sue, good morning to you. Thank you for coming in.
Sue Butler: Good morning.
Melissa Doyle: Boofhead. I wouldn’t have thought boofhead was an offensive word.
Sue Butler: No. I’ve always thought of it as having an affectionate sort of tone. Boofhead comes from the French word buffle meaning buffalo.

Their mistake was to encourage Butler to explore the issue more widely.

Sue Butler: Today’s taboos are all about labels that you use for people. So that the sentence, “you are a” is practically a no no. You cannot use...
David Koch: Even if you use boofhead.
Sue Butler: Even if you use boofhead because you’re putting it in the same context as things which are clearly rude. You know: “You are a f_uckwit.” Well, obviously we know that’s bad.

And the moment Sue Butler drew breath she got the guillotine.

Melissa Doyle: Sue thank you so much for coming in. Big can of worms there.
David Koch: Appreciate your time.
Melissa Doyle: Appreciate your time.

After the ad break David and Melissa were back to make their apologies.

Voiceover: From brekkie central it's back to David Koch and Melissa Doyle.
Melissa Doyle: Welcome back you’re watching Sunrise, Live at Brekkie Central. We must make a very quick apology. In our last interview you might have heard a word used by our guest we do not condone on this program so we wrapped the interview up relatively quickly as you might have noticed. So our apologies to anyone who might have taken offence to that word. Its not one that will ever be repeated.

There's an old saying round newsrooms: when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Not these two. Next morning they were back responding to viewer emails on the expert from Macquarie and the F-word crisis.

David Koch: Well done for handling the situation professionally, but the lady looked so prim and proper – caught us by surprise too – and then came out with that saying. I thought it really funny but of course completely inappropriate and improper for that time of morning.
Melissa Doyle: Specially when kids are watching. We’re very well aware that kids are watching and you know –
David Koch: Eighteen minutes to 9 o’clock.

They brought child psychologist Dr John Irvine into the studio to try to clean up the mess.

Dr John Irvine: Swearing has to be short, sharp, it’s got to be plosive in the way it comes out – like saying, Oh, bother.
Melissa Doyle: Don’t say it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
David Koch: We’re paranoid here. We’re on the edge of our seat.

And Dr Irvine's advice?

Dr John Irvine: A good technique is to say, sit down I think we need to talk about that word, what it means.

The gang at Sunrise could look up "****wit" in Sue Butler's Macquarie Dictionary.

f_uckwit: Noun. Colloquial; a nincompoop.
- The Macquarie Dictionary

That's a simple and concise definition Sue, but could we suggest some illustrations to really make the point.

*Oh-oh. In our television program we incorrectly referred to the Wallabies as the Waratahs.

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As we suggested earlier in this guide, online censorship and digital free speech have become something of a crusade for enthusiasts of various persuasions, with truth caught in the crossfire while industry groups and government agencies tread warily (or merely wearily) across the battlefield.

From our perspective we are struck by

internet exceptionalism, ie assumptions that the net (like precursors such as the moving picture or television) is unprecedently powerful - either for liberation or for the destruction of all that right-thinking parents hold dear

the small size of many advocacy groups, with vehemence, enthusiasm and ability to shape public debate (or merely coopt policy makers in the face of community disinterest or uncomprehension) offsetting narrow support bases

the mobilisation of larger communities - particular in the US as part of the 'religious-broadcast complex' - with many people supporting a 'gesture politics' or an elective 'identity politics' that is apparently inconsistent with their daily practice

continuities with past campaigns against obscenity, subversion or violent content (eg there is little difference between the rhetoric of Fred Nile, Pat Robertson or Anthony Comstock)

a recourse to extreme positions, often with little appreciation of administrative or technological impediments to grand visions

and, more sadly, the lack of tolerance or basic courtesy shown by combatants on different sides of the fray

In considering advocacy within Australia and elsewhere it is desirable to be wary of some of the more reductionist dichotomies -

1. left versus right
2. secular versus religious
3. technologists versus troglodytes, and
4. the meme of the 'heroic band' fighting valiantly against the forces of darkness.

As in any war, truth seems to be the first casualty.

Religious crusaders

In Australia recent crusades have been driven by small protestant evangelical bodies such as the Festival of Light (FOL) - an import from the UK that for many people has been as welcome as the rabbit or cane toad, fringe political parties such as the Christian Democrats - discussed in a more detailed resource on our Analysphere site - and pronouncements from senior clerics such as Roman Catholic Cardinal Pell.

The extent of support is unclear: neither the FOL or CD have become mass movements to rival the Greens or poujadist groups such as the Shooters Party or One Nation and as Peter Chen notes in his 2000 thesis mainstream religious groups have been wary about supporting the FOL and affiliate the Community Standards Organisation (CSO). In considering internet regulation arguably the most impact has been that of the Lyons Forum (a faction within the Federal Coalition parties) and Tasmania's Senator Brian Harridine, attributable to his skill in leveraging a quirk of the federal electoral system.

Australian activism is explored in more detail in a separate profile. Perspectives are provided by Fred Nile's Fred Nile: An Autobiography (Sydney: Strand 2001),The High Price Of Heaven (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 1999) by David Marr and For God & Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics (Canberra: Parliament of Australia 2001) by Marion Maddox.

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In the UK campaigns associated with Mary Whitehouse (1910-2001) waxed and waned, with her National Viewers & Listeners Association rebadged as Mediawatch-UK and the Festival of Light (founded in 1971) failing to achieve the success claimed for its 1.5 million signature Nationwide Petition for Public Decency during the 1972 'winter of discontent'. Mediawatch-UK is reported to currently have under 500 members, fewer than the client list of some adult video outlets in London, Belfast or Birmingham.

Insights are offered by Bill Thompson's 1991 Moral Crusades & Media Censorship (PDF), his 1992 'Anti-Pornography Campaigns: Saving the Family in America & Britain' ........

In the US over the past two decades campaigns against obscenity, profanity, violence and the 'permissive society' have been a rallying point for what's been labelled the New Right or Religious Right. Prominent organisations include the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (NCPCF), with offshoots such as Gideon's Army -

a program of the National Coalition designed to educate, equip and mobilize Christians to live out heroic faith and stand for truth and righteousness in this moment in history - Christians that will commit their hearts, minds and resources to articulating and advancing God's truth in a culture that has become hostile to the truth

and the Christian Coalition of America (CC) - "America's Leading Grassroots Organization Defending Our Godly Heritage" - under the leadership of sometime US presidential candidate and broadcaster Pat Robertson.

The American Family Association (AFA) was founded in 1977 by electronic evangelist Douglas Wildmon for

people who are tired of cursing the darkness and who are ready to light a candle ... AFA stands for traditional family values, focusing primarily on the influence of television and other media - including pornography - on our society

It warns that

Kids may not be safe in the local library because of policies that allow even children unrestricted access to pornography. That extreme policy flows out of the American Library Association (ALA), a private organization that has a virtual death grip on how many public libraries are run. etc etc

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global advocates
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The EFF was one of the original US online lobby groups. It has spawned groups within the US (EF Texas and EF Georgia are of interest) and overseas, such as Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC).
.........
The Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA), a US-based body that opposes filtering technologies. Those technologies, discussed later in this guide, are a key feature of plans by the EU-based Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), an industry body frequently criticised for overstating the effectiveness of its solutions but offering an approach that is worthy of consideration.

Most sites present only one point of view. UK-based free expression group Internet Freedom (IF) is particularly commendable because its site includes links to bodies such as ICR that support strong censorship.
........
Article19: The Global Campaign for Free Expression (A19) is a UK-based libertarian group. The '19' refers to the corresponding article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (Cyber-Rights) is a UK group established by Yaman Akdeniz of Leeds University. Dr Akdeniz is the author of the 1997 paper on The Regulation of Pornography & Child Pornography on the Internet.

The EU-based INHOPE organisation is an example of industry and community bodies underpinning government action against child pornography. Apart from community awareness, it operates a hotline for reporting illegal online material. Its site provides a useful starting point for study of hotlines.

There is a less positive view of such initiatives in Donna Hughes' 1999 study Pimps & Predators on the Internet - Globalizing the Sexual Exploitation of Women & Children, quoting a Dutch hotline

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Some people may regard the hotline as a moralist movement against indecency on Internet. That we are not. … Instead of being a censor, the hotline must be regarded as an initiative against censorship. By having an active preventive policy, the hotline tries to minimize repressive actions against entire newsgroups or areas of Internet. There is an ongoing trend of repression against Internet, providers are being persecuted and forced to block off large parts of the Net. The hotline tries to be a positive and constructive answer that may prevent an overreaction from governments and providers.

The Censorware Project is a libertarian group notable for cogent demonstrations that few filters meet the claims of their vendors or promoters in government. Peacefire is a similar group for young technologists; founder Bennett Haselton has gained recognition in fighting spam.

Australian cyberlibertarians

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is the local offshoot of the US EFF. Arguably it has yet to persuade government, industry or the wider community and continues to be marginal.

Watch on Censorship (WoC) is another Australian libertarian group.

Industry

In discussing the adult content industry we have noted the quip that online sex is the "crazy granny" (the US version of the madwoman in the Victorian attic) whose mere existence is discomforting. Industry stances regarding online content regulation and the range of advocacy bodies reflect the diversity of commercial interests.

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"a recourse to extreme positions, often with little appreciation of administrative or technological impediments to grand visions

and, more sadly, the lack of tolerance or basic courtesy shown by combatants on different sides of the fray "

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Rafa said:

I tell you who has a good case to sue the crap out of us...

GOD... for the all the blame we have attributed to him for every bloody thing that goes wrong in this world!

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Rafa said:

I tell you who has a good case to sue the crap out of us...

GOD... for the all the blame we have attributed to him for every bloody thing that goes wrong in this world!

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The Man Who Sued God

Directed by Mark Joffe
Written by John Clarke
Don Watson
Starring Billy Connolly
Judy Davis
Release date(s) 2001
Running time 97 mins
Country Australia
IMDb profile

DVD coverThe Man Who Sued God is a 2001 Australian movie in which Billy Connolly plays Steve Myers, an ex-lawyer who sues God because his boat is struck by lightning, and his insurance company refuses to pay, claiming it to be an act of God. By claiming to be God's representatives on Earth, the Christian and Jewish churches are held to be the liable party, putting them in the difficult position of either having to pay out large sums of money, or proving that God does not exist.

It has been said that despite a seemingly ludicrous premise, the movie is not as comedic as one would think, and deals with some very serious subjects, such as the ever-present threat of Australian bushfires, the church in contemporary society, and most notably; the role of large insurance companies and the way in which they can affect the people whose insurance claims are rejected, raising the very valid question, "Who actually decides if an event is an act of God or not, and who defines the nature of these acts ? Churches or Insurance companies ?"

Award-winning actress Judy Davis (who plays journalist Anna Redmond) is the wife of actor Colin Friels, who co-stars as Steve Myers's brother in the film.

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