IRISH MEDIA LAWNora Kirrane

Defamation

Defamation is the false accusation or statement that is harmful to someone’s reputation.

Defamation

Slander is the spoken form of defamation.

Defamation

Libel is the written form of defamation.

Defamation

A defamatory statement does not need to name a person, it just has to suggest a person by their profession, location, connections etc.

ExampleA former Garda commissioner was awarded £30,000 in damages for the use of an image of his ear on the broadcast of a TV program about corruption.

Defamation

Example of a defamatory case in Ireland:

On a RTE broadcast of Prime Time on May 23rd 2011, a priest was wrongly accused of sexually abusing a teenager and fathering a child. The amount of damages was not disclosed but RTE has agreed to pay compensatory damage and aggravated damage to the priest.