Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> McLagan's famous libel victory http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1192125687 Message started by Forum Admin on Oct 11^th, 2007, 6:02pm

Title: McLagan's famous libel victory
Post by Forum Admin on Oct 11^th, 2007, 6:02pm

This is taken from The Guardian:

McLagan wins Reynolds appeal
by Chris Tryhorn
Thursday October 11, 2007

Investigative journalism was given a major boost today after the author of a book about police corruption won a libel victory at the court of appeal.

The court found in favour of Graeme McLagan, whose book Bent Coppers was previously judged to have defamed a former Flying Squad officer, Michael Charman.

Today the court of appeal unanimously overturned a high court ruling from last year, deciding that McLagan had acted responsibly when writing and researching the book.

The court upheld the so-called "Reynolds defence" of qualified privilege, under which journalists can claim the right to publish material in the public interest even if they cannot prove its accuracy or it turns out to be untrue.

McLagan's victory follows a similar ruling by the House of Lords in October last year in favour of the Wall Street Journal Europe, after the paper had been sued by a Saudi billionaire businessman, Mohammed Jameel.

Caroline Kean, a partner at solicitors Wiggin, which represented McLagan and his publisher, Orion, hailed the judgment as "a breath of fresh air".

"For too long newspapers and book publishers have been deterred from publishing serious investigative journalism by the threat of incredibly complex and expensive libel proceedings if they made the slightest error," Ms Kean said.

"This decision of the court of appeal has put the role of the investigative journalist back in centre stage."

McLagan, who worked as the BBC's expert on police corruption for more than 20 years, said today's ruling was "a victory for solid, responsible investigative journalism".

"Exposing police corruption is obviously in the public interest, as was recognised by the trial judge, the appeal court and even by Michael Charman's own defence team."

McLagan claimed the Police Federation would incur costs of between £1m and £2m as a result of the judgment.

Peter Roche, Orion's chief executive, said it was the first time the Reynolds defence had been applied to a book.

"This judgment will enable serious investigative works covering matters of public concern to be published in future and increase the freedom of debate in the UK," Mr Roche said.

During a one-week trial in June last year, lawyers for Mr Charman argued that authors of factual books should have a higher "duty of care" to verify information than journalists working for daily newspapers.

Mr Justice Gray ruled against McLagan in July 2006, rejecting his use of the Reynolds defence.

The qualified privilege defence takes its name from a case brought by former Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds against the Sunday Times.

Its scope has been tested in a series of recent rulings, including the MP George Galloway's legal victory over the Daily Telegraph in December 2004, and the Jameel case against the Wall Street Journal Europe.