R13 - Defamation

So what is defamation?
Defamation is the intentional false communication that affects a person, business, product, group, government, religion, or a nation's (community) reputation. There is spoken defamation (slander) and defamation in media such as prints and images (libel).  In most situations, defamation can come across as discrimination so it is treated as a crime.


Defamation Act 2013 - http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/defamation.html

The BBC Academy of journalism states that "The law of defamation allows individuals, companies or firms (‘claimants’) to sue for damage to their reputation caused by material that is published and which makes defamatory comments about them".

Defamation can be done by publication. Such as:
-Newspaper - this would be libel
-Websites - libel
-Radio - slander

There have been changes to the defence of defamation. For example, if a person's intention was to tell the truth, express honest opinions and publication for public interests. 


EXAMPLE OF DEFAMATION

Earlier this year actress Scarlett Johansson sued French writer Grégoire Delacourt for using her as a model for the author's protagonist in the book La Première Chose Qu'on Regarde (The First Thing You Look At), which had sold over 100,000 copies and translated into several languages. The actress claimed the book, "fraudulently exploited her name, her image and her celebrity" and that it was, "an attack on her private life" as the fictional character in the book was seen as a sex object and had two affairs which the actress did not have. This created a lot of fuss for the actress because of the belief that people who will read the book will believe that the fictional character's background relates to her. Her argument however was throw out by the court as Ms Johansson has already spoken out about her private life in interviews.

The author quoted, "I wrote a work of fiction. My character is not Scarlett Johansson". So no defamatory work was intentional though that was thought otherwise by the actress.