Cases

Jameel & Another v Wall Street Journal Europe (No.2) (HL)

Held

(1) The privilege was upheld. The entire article had to be considered when determining whether the defamatory words were protected by privilege. It is not necessary to find a separate public interest justification for each item of information within the publication, but rather for the "thrust" of the article as a whole. Allowance must be made for editorial judgment. Whilst the majority preferred to continue to analyse Reynolds using the classic duty/interest model (albeit with a greater flexibility), the minority (Lord Hoffman and Baroness Hale) rejected this analysis as unhelpful and likely to lead to a "narrow and rigid approach which defeats its object". All but Lord Bingham were content to find that the publication was privileged without a retrial. (2) The majority (Lords Bingham, Scott and Hope) held that a corporation may sue for libel without proving special damage.

Also