Libel And Slander Research Articles

The Goof, the Bad and the Ugly: "Indecent" Language Use on Ghanaian Radio

Free speech and media freedoms were reinforced in Ghana with the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in 2001. As a result, the citizen’s voice, which was hitherto muted, has grown louder as Ghanaians feel emboldened to contribute to national discourse in the media (especially local language radio programmes) without fear of the Criminal Libel Law. However, concerns have been raised about indecent language which has become pervasive in the Ghanaian media. This study examined indecent language on radio in Ghana. The study adopted the quantitative approach and analysed content data gathered from selected Ghanaian radio stations from May, 2016 to September, 2016. This was the period just before the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. The study revealed six types of indecent language on Ghanaian radio and noted that insults and offensive comments ranked the highest, while expressions promoting divisiveness ranked lowest.

John Martin-Joy. Diagnosing from a Distance: Debates over Libel Law, Media, and Psychiatric Ethics from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump.

J<scp>ohn</scp> M<scp>artin</scp>-J<scp>oy</scp>. <i>Diagnosing from a Distance: Debates over Libel Law, Media, and Psychiatric Ethics from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump</i>.

Psychology of Abusive Human Behavior

The aim of this article is to explore the psychology of abusive human behavior with special attention to gaslighting, defamation of character, mockery, bullying, and mobbing, based on the so-far published scientific literature, and my own experience and observations. Abusive human behavior can have various forms, but the motivation is almost always the same: power and control over the victim. Psychological abuse, especially if longer lasting, can cause serious psychological and even physical damage to the victim. Society should be more aware of the detrimental effects of abusive human behavior in its variety of forms and be ready to offer adequate medical, psychological and legal help for the victim.

Hieroglyphic State Machine

Hieroglyphic State Machine

Guidance for Professional Use of Social Media in Nutrition and Dietetics Practice

Guidance for Professional Use of Social Media in Nutrition and Dietetics Practice

A discursive construction of resistance in police-suspect interactions in Ibadan, Nigeria

Police-suspect interactions (PSIs) are a site for negotiating power. In the Nigerian context, scholarly investigations from the pragmatic and discourse analytical ambits have probed how investigating police officers (IPOs) enact and sustain power in PSIs. However, the place of the suspect in Nigerian policing has not enjoyed sufficient scholarly investigation. This study investigates how suspects deploy discursive devices to resist IPOs’ powers, with a view to describing the implication of such resistance for the language of interrogation in Ibadan, Nigeria. Fairclough’s perspective on power relations serves as the theoretical anchor for the study. Twenty interrogation sessions were audio recorded at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Ìyágankú, Ibadan, Oyo State. Of these, eight interrogation sessions, two cases each of kidnapping, affray, conspiracy and defamation of character were selected for analysis. The analysis of selected data reveals that suspects are not usually at the mercy of IPOs during PSIs; they resist police powers by deploying topic control to construct avoidance, positive self, denial through alternatives, concealment and interrogatives to challenge IPOs so as to avoid incrimination. The study recommends further suspect-related studies to further establish the place of the suspect in PSIs.

How to Do Surgery on the Constitutional Law of Libel

Of late, the constitutional law of libel has become the focus of increasing dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction has taken various forms. The argument below, however, is that the most crucial defect of constitutional libel law lies in the Court’s continuing attempts to draw and utilize distinctions among public figure and private figure libel plaintiffs. The Court should abandon these attempts. Instead, the Court should attend, broadly and fundamentally, to the constitutionally vital distinction between libelous speech that does or does not address some matter of public interest and concern. The argument below first emphasizes the constitutional logic underlying the Court’s initial imposition of First Amendment limitations on the state tort law of libel. The argument then critiques the Court’s initial embrace of a supposedly fundamental but actually distracting distinction between public and private figure libel plaintiffs. Interestingly, for a brief time, a divided Court returned to a focus on the underlying logic of putting First Amendment limits on the tort of libel, only to then re-distract itself with a renewed focus on questions of public and private figure status. Perhaps inevitably though, the Court’s emphasis on public versus private figure status has been qualified, in limited ways, by recourse to the genuinely basic and more valuable distinction between speech that does or does not address some matter of public interest and concern. The argument then catalogs some additional problems inherent in the Court’s public versus private figure libel plaintiff distinction. The argument then defends the essential priority of a focus on the public interest versus merely private interest nature of the subject matter of the libel defendant’s speech. A brief, but comprehensive, conclusion then follows.

Edward Coke, William West, and the Law of Libel

ABSTRACT This note uncovers a new source for Edward Coke’s seminal account of the law of libel in his 1605 report De libellis famosis: the second part of William West’s Symboleography (1594). West adapted much of his popular English law book, including his definition of libel, from the work of the German civilian Hermann Vulteius. Coke in turn borrowed wholesale from West. That borrowing not only underscores the sixteenth-century roots of Coke’s law of libel but also suggests the difficulty of disentangling common law practice from civil law precept in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England.

THE CRIME OF DEFAMATION – STILL DEFENSIBLE IN A MODERN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY?

The crime of defamation, known as criminal libel in some jurisdictions, has (along with associated “insult laws”) been identified in the 2007 Declaration of Table Mountain of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers as the “greatest scourge of press freedom on the continent”. The Declaration proceeds to call for the abolition of such laws as a matter of urgency. This call has similarly been made in the Caribbean context by the International Press Institute and in the Commonwealth by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). Writing on behalf of CHRI, Cowell notes the “chilling effect” of defamation laws (along with the procedural laws and regulations governing libel actions), defining this phenomenon as “partially … self-censorship on the part of individuals but in general…a wider culture of fear and uncertainty within society that limits free speech”. On this basis, Cowell argues (for CHRI) that criminal defamation represents the “clearest threat to the exercise of freedom of speech withCommonwealth states” and that the “threat of criminal sanction can act as asignificant and widespread deterrent against all freedom of speech”, and that they should therefore be repealed. Similar calls forthe abolition of criminal defamation laws have issued from the Organization of American States and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and in response to a complaint relating to a criminal libel conviction emanating from the Philippines, the United Nations Human Rights Council stated that “States parties should consider the decriminalization of defamation … application of the criminal law [in the context of defamation] should only be countenanced in the most serious of cases and imprisonment is never an appropriate remedy”.Despite these calls for the abolition of the crime, it is noteworthy that the crime is retained in many jurisdictions, including European jurisdictions and Commonwealth countries. For example, every Commonwealth state in the English-speaking Caribbean (except Grenada) has specific criminal libel laws, Asian Commonwealth countries such as India, Singapore and Malaysia have corresponding criminaldefamation provisions, and so do African Commonwealth countries such as Botswana and South Africa. In addition, Commonwealth members such as Australia and Canada retain criminal defamation laws. An approach from the Commonwealth Press Union arguing for the abolition of the crime of defamation on the basis that such a crime threatens freedom of expression and is subject to abuse, being used in cases which do not involve the public interest, did not find favour with the Commonwealth Law ministers in their meeting in Accra in 2005.

Defences in An Action for Defamation

The right to freedom of speech or expression is guaranteed by several international human rights treaties and national laws. The implication of this is that everyone has a legal right to freely express his or her opinions and feelings. However, there exist certain restrictions which the law places on the right to freedom of expression. This right may be restricted where its exercise would adversely affect the reputation of others. Thus, the laws of many countries impose civil and in some cases, criminal liability on persons who make statements which harm or defame the character of other persons. In such countries, a person's liability for defamation may be invoked through the initiation of an action in a court of law, either in Tort or Criminal Law. This paper discusses, in detail, the defences available to a person who has been sued or charged for the defamation of character. It evaluates the statutory provisions and case law on these defences in different jurisdictions.

Libel laws and the non-institutional press

ABSTRACT This paper will argue that non-institutional media such as bloggers should be accorded the same First Amendment protection as institutional media under libel laws. Supreme Court precedent supports making no distinction between the institutional and non-institutional media. The status of the plaintiff is relevant in libel actions, not the status of the defendant. Moreover, when bloggers disseminate information that is a matter of public concern, they are functioning as journalists. Many federal courts have adopted this functional approach when determining whether bloggers can be protected by shield laws. This paper argues that the same standard should apply to libel laws.

Review: Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture, by Gary A. Rosen

Review: <i>Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture</i>, by Gary A. Rosen

학교운동부지도자 무기 계약직 전환 인식과 처우개선 방안

The purpose of this research was to suggest the perception and improvement measures for the non-fixed term transition of the school athletic leaders. The seven school athletic leaders in areas that have been changed to non-fixed term with sufficient information suitable for the purpose of the study by research methods were subjected to the purposeful sampling and data collection through an in-depth interview was mainly done. The collected in-depth interview data was repeatedly read to analyze areas where meanings are classified and categorized, and taxonomic analysis to systematically find the attributes according to meanings. The results of these methods and procedures are as follows. First, the perception of the transition of non-fixed term of the school athletic leaders has been partially resolved from the stress of the renewal contract, and they have been able to guide students steadily away from the pressure of the grades, and the manager''s power tripping, such as unreasonable administrative pressure, exercise of authority using hierarchy, disparaging remarks, and defamation of character, were gradually improved through communication. Negative aspects included a drop in pay. The salary has been lowered by about 500,000 won from 2.1 million won to 1.64 million won in basic salary, and only because it has become a full-time worker, it controls and restricts the methods of preserving salaries such as development funds and beneficiary burdens. As a result, they feel a sense of loss and skepticism, and even have difficulty maintaining a living. This means that the school athletic department is not trying to secure transparency in its operation, but rather it can proceed negatively. Second, improvements should raise the reduced salary that fall short of the minimum wage, improve the difference in basic salary according to the types, and re-implement the beneficiary burden that had been implemented before full-time employment by means of subsidizing benefits through school accounting in accordance with the legal procedures. Similarly, they voiced that afterschool activities that had been carried out before full-time jobs should be actively utilized through communication and agreement, not unilateral control and restriction. Another improvement was hoped to improve insufficient treatment by introducing the salary step system and certification allowance, as did teachers and education officials currently working with school athletic leaders. In conclusion, although the transition of school athletic leaders to full-time positions is being made nationwide, there are still many problems to be supplemented such as improvement of treatment and change of perception. Through communication and understanding between each other, we hope that measures will be established systematically to improve practical treatment. Recently, sports officials have voiced concerns that the school athletic department will shrink if they follow the recommendations made by the Sports Innovation Committee. We hope that realistic policy measures will be established and implemented so that elite and leisure sports can be harmonized and developed by listening to the voice of the field.

The Press and Libel Before New York Times v. Sullivan

The Press and Libel Before New York Times v. Sullivan

THE SHOCK OF THE RISKY(QUÉ) FEMALE: FEMININITY AND THE TRAUMA OF THE GREAT WAR ERA IN THE DANCING OF MAUD ALLAN AND ANNA PAVLOVA

What role did the figure of the dancing female play in negotiating cultural anxieties in the Great War era? I explore this question by looking at the female performer Maud Allan who was famous for her danced interpretations of Salomé in pre-War London and cause of a sensational libel suit in 1918 bring together deviant female sexuality and wartime espionage. I juxtapose Allan with ballerina Anna Pavlova, a contemporary, and role model par excellence for proper femininity. These two examples offer a rich comparison from which to discuss how dancing and femininity was the grounds for inciting and palliating the profound cultural trauma of the Great War era. KeywordsDance. Femininity. Cultural Trauma. Great War Era.

In Sullivan's Shadow: The Use and Abuse of Libel Law during the Long Civil Rights Struggle

In Sullivan's Shadow: The Use and Abuse of Libel Law during the Long Civil Rights Struggle

Indigenous movements, ICTs and the state in Latin America

ABSTRACT This paper presents an analysis of the evolving cyber politics landscape in Latin American countries from the perspective of the region’s Indigenous social movements. It examines the types of regulations and tools that Latin American governments have adopted to assert their control over the online world, how these measures constitute barriers for Indigenous organizations, and how social media and other ICTs are shifting the balance of power between Indigenous movements and the state. Based on three years of qualitative fieldwork in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile, this paper argues that the ability of Indigenous groups to use ICTs for political engagement is threatened by restrictive communications policies, libel laws, authoritarian national security legislation, and government use of surveillance technologies. Indigenous claims challenge established political and economic structures of power, but communities lack the resources to ensure their own information security, to detect online attacks and to defend themselves against authoritarian practices. As a result, Indigenous organizations are faced with censorship, self-censorship, and accusations of defamation and terrorism. This limits the potential of ICTs to serve as instruments of democratization.

State Violence, Justice, And The Suffering Of Others

In 1955, Alain Resnais's now canonical documentary, Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog) ended with an ominous question, asking “who, among us, is keeping watch from this strange watchtower [of the ruins of Auschwitz] to warn of the arrival of our new executioners” who might bring about the return of the “concentrationary plague?” One man had already made it his mission to do so: the French writer and former political deportee David Rousset. Rousset had shaken the French world of letters and politics with the 1946 publication of L'univers concentrationnaire (The Concentrationary Universe), which warned of the civilizational and moral cesura that the Nazi camps had been. The term quickly became a widely used conceptual framework. Former deportee and Catholic writer Jean Cayrol borrowed from it to write his voice-over to Night and Fog. In 1949, Rousset published another text that created a scandal in Cold War France: an Appeal to “fellow deportees” calling upon them to “investigate the USSR's concentrationary universe” (Kuby, 46). This indictment fiercely divided the French left. In 1950, he brought a libel suit against another former deportee, communist writer Pierre Daix, who had accused him of amnesiac “apoliticism” (Kuby, 65–6; Dean, 61). Just before, in the wake of his Appeal, Rousset had founded an organization against concentrationary regimes with those, like him, who had been political deportees. In 1951, it put the Soviet Union on trial for crimes against humanity. Rousset and his organization were involved in many trials, eager to denounce the “new executioners” who had revived the “scourge of the camps” in the postwar world. For many today, he is an “exceptional” man because, as philosopher and critic Tzvetan Todorov argues, he was not paralyzed by the memory of “this painful experience”; instead, he harnessed it into action against dehumanizing state violence. For Todorov, Rousset had allowed morality to prevail over base political considerations.

Rage Against the Voting Machine: Dominion’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Sidney Powell

On January 8, 2021, Dominion Voting Systems, Inc., filed a defamation lawsuit against Sidney Powell. The 124-page complaint—drafted by the law firm of noted libel attorney Tom Clare—is the result of Powell’s claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election. This Article examines the relevant issues of false statement of fact, damages, causation, and actual malice. Additionally, a unique privilege that may be available to Powell is considered. The outcome of this lawsuit could have far-reaching ramifications. For example, the discovery process could uncover damning communications between Powell and either the Trump campaign or conservative media outlets. And this lawsuit could be the first of many. Dominion is considering similar legal action against others, including Donald Trump. Dominion has already sent document-retention letters to Rudy Giuliani and Fox News. The ramifications of such subsequent lawsuits could be even greater if they reach the Supreme Court and it takes the opportunity to revisit Sullivan, as recently advocated for by Justice Thomas.

“Pure Caucasian Blood”: Libel by Racial Misidentification in American Newspapers (1900–1957)

Utilizing critical race theory, we can better understand the role that the American legal system and newspapers played in their efforts to maintain the racial status quo prior to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. At the intersection of race, journalism, and libel law, we see a rich vein of case law spawned from newspapers erroneously identifying white people as black. Such racial misidentification prompted a series of libel suits from 1900 to 1957 before the US Supreme Court placed libel law under First Amendment protection in New York Times v. Sullivan. Jim Crow had long been secure in southern newspapers and some errors in racial identification were inevitable. Before Sullivan, it could indeed be libelous when newspapers falsely identified white people as black.