Defamation

Defamation is about reputation. Our defamation law protects the reputation of individuals or companies from unjustified allegations which could damage reputation.

You may be committing defamation if you publish material which tends to lower the reputation of a person or company “in the minds of right-thinking people.”

There are three main defences to any claim for defamation:

• Truth, provided you can prove your statements are true
• Honest opinion, which must be based on accurate facts
• Qualified privilege, meaning the reporting of Parliament or the Courts, providing your report is fair and accurate

Damages awarded in defamation cases can be high. Entertainer Ray Columbus won record damages in 2000 in a claim against INL, publishers of NZ Truth and TV Extra.

Perhaps the most significant case in recent years was Lange v Atkinson, in which former Prime Minister David Lange sued North and South magazine over a column written in 1992 by Joe Atkinson, a political commentator from Auckland University. The column was critical of Lange’s performance in power. In several important judgements, the Courts ruled that the defence of qualified privilege was available for political discussion, these decisions effectively leaving the media a little more free to engage in robust discussion of political issues.

See Burrows J and Cheer U, 2005, Media Law in New Zealand, Melbourne, Oxford University Press.