Join us for a lunch hour talk by Dan Burnett entitled “LANDMARK DEFAMATION DECISION – Supreme Court of Canada establishes Responsible Communication and Reportage defences,” about important new legal rulings for journalists. The Supreme Court of Canada has released a pair of rulings which alter the landscape of defamation law in Canada, Torstar v Grant and Ottawa Citizen v Cusson. The Court has created a new defence for journalists and other communicators who report on stories of public interest even where certain facts are false or unprovable, so long as the story was responsibly assembled. That includes, among other things, giving the affected party an opportunity to respond before publishing. The decision also permits the “reportage” of defamatory allegations where the fact of the allegations are of public interest and the story makes clear that the allegations are unproven and reported in a balanced manner.
Dan Burnett will be explaining these important decisions and discussing the implications for practising journalists in Canada.
The talk takes place on Tuesday, January 26 at 12:30 pm at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, Room 104.