In a victory that strengthens the media’s right to report matters in the public interest, the appeal judges ruled that Graeme McClagan had acted responsibly when he researched and wrote his book “Bent Coppers.”
A former senior police officer, Michael Charman, claimed that the book libelled him by suggesting that there were “cogent grounds” of suspecting him of having been involved in corruption.
But the judges ruled unanimously that Mr McLagan had taken steps to verify the story and that as a result of his honesty, his expertise on the subject, his careful research and painstaking evaluation of the material, his book was protected by defence of “public interest”.
It is thought to be the first time that the public interest defence has been used successfully over the publication of a book.
Caroline Kean, a solicitor with Wiggin, who acted for Mr McLagan and his publishers, Orion, welcomed the ruling as a victory for responsible journalism.
“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.
“This judgment is a breath of fresh air, building on the decision last year by the House of Lords (in the case of Jameel v Wall Street Journal) which expressly stated that the defamation laws should encourage rather than discourage serious journalism.”
The court, she added, had said that a responsible journalist, who had analysed his material critically, should not have his evaluation of his material second-guessed by a judge acting with the benefit of hindsight.
Mr McLagan said: “Exposing police corruption is obviously in the public interest. This was recognised by the trial judge, the appeal court and even Mr Charman’s own defence team.”
The author expressed surprise that the Police Federation had supported Mr Charman, a “man required to resign by the Metropolitan Police for ‘discreditable conduct.”
The Federation would now have to pay a bill of at least £ 1 million in costs, he said. “I hope it will have learned from this expensive lesson and will think more carefully before wielding its bullying, clunking fist against journalists in future.”
He said he was grateful to his publishers, Orion, for going ahead with the book and to his legal team.
Peter Roche, chief executive of The Orion Publishing Group, said he was delighted that the appeal had been allowed.
October 11, 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment