Weblogsky: A case of libel?

A case of libel?

Scotland's Sunday Herald made an apology and paid damages for a comment a reader made in its online forum. Nato secretary general George Robertson's damage award for a false allegation may also have the affect of stifling newspaper discussion forums; it implies that forums should be held to the same level of editorial control and fact-checking as other content areas at a newspaper site. This will doubtless have a chilling effect on informal conversation about news, at least on sites that are connected to sites published by news organizations. [Link]

Lord Robertson's lawyer, Cameron Dean, warned that the case highlighted the danger of "operating a website without being fully aware of the legal risks and responsibilities".

But media law expert Mark Stephens, of law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said the courts had to recognise that message boards were not read in the same way as newspaper websites.

"Readers understand that bulletin boards are not reliable sources of information. Just as you wouldn't treat a copy of the Beano in the same way as a serious scientific journal, so in the modern era you have to realise that bulletin boards are not always scrupulously accurate," he said.

jon posted this at 7:09 AM
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