Liable for libel
The infamous Liveline libel remark is available via Gavin in case you haven’t heard it.
I actually heard it live and I didn’t think much of it, just part of the normal cut-and-thrust of talk radio. I was a little taken aback to hear that Martin Cullen was threatening to sue RTE for libel even though they hadn’t made the comment, immediately disconnected the caller, and issued a grovelling apology. I was even more taken aback to discover that under the laws of this country, RTE, as a publisher, could indeed be held liable for the libel.
The potential that this law has for restricting free speech in the public domain is hard to calculate. RTE may have enough funds to deal with this sort of attack but a smaller publisher would not.
Want to shut down a media outlet that is making you uncomfortable? Simple. Just use that outlet to make some libellous comments about yourself and sue them out of business.
Brenda Power has a good analysis of the issue.
Mark Waters marked time at 11:27 am on January 20th, 2005 .
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