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McKeith v News Group Newspapers Ltd
Comment
This case shows that the Court will permit a claimant to select a meaning for complaint without allowing the defendant to justify the entirety of the article and thereby turn an otherwise comparatively simple trial into a wide-ranging investigation. There have been few applications of the principle suggested in US Tobacco v BBC since the case was decided in 1988. The Court also made clear that in non-reportage Reynolds cases a defendant should state the subjective belief of the journalist as to the meaning alleged to be true (in line with Jameel v Wall Street Journal). It is also not appropriate for the pleader to transpose the particulars of justification wholesale into a Reynolds plea, without recognising the separate functions and principles which apply to these two very different defences.