The Law of Print Media

Constitutional Provisions

THE RIGHT TO PUBLISH NEWSis not expressly granted by law,

but is founded on the

general liberty of the people.

“No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress

of grievances.”

Sub section of Sec. 1, Art. III of the 1935 Constitution states:

The reporter or publisher may be held LIABLE for printing or publishing any of the following:

those injurious

- to the reputation or privacy of persons- to the public order and national security- to the public morals- to the integrity and efficiency of public

bodies

Branch of Law affected:

CRIMINAL LAW - libel, obscenity, inciting to sedition, contempt,

unlawful publication of official papers, & others

CIVIL LAW - libel, breach of privacy, violation of copyright,

unfair competition

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - concerning postal law, mailing privileges, customs

regulations - it is the libel law which campus editors may most

likely violate

“A public and malicious imputation of a crime, or a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstances tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or judicial person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”

Art. 353 of the revised Penal Code (Act. Bo. 3815, as amended)

the type of defamation with a permanent record, like a newspaper, a letter, a website posting, an email, a

picture, or a radio or TV broadcast

the type of defamation with no permanent record—normally it's a spoken statement and it can also be a hand gesture or

something similar

REQUISITES OF

Four requisites to make a publication libelous:

1

•Defamatory imputation

2

•Malice (either in law or in fact)

3

•Publication of the imputation

4

•Identity and certainty of the person libeled

1. Defamatory Statement

if it exposes a person to hatred, ridicule, or contempt, or it causes him to be avoided or shunned and has the tendency to injure him in his office, profession, or trade

if it tends to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him

The law doesn't protect you from a personal insult or a remark that injures only your pride; it protects reputation, not feelings.

So if someone calls you a lazy slob, you might be hurt, but you probably don't have a good reason to sue.

If he goes on to say you cheat in your business dealings, you probably do have a good reason to sue, as long as he says it to someone else, not just to you.

If he says it only to you, you can't sue because he has not hurt your reputation.

2. Malice, either in law or in fact

if it may denote unprivileged publication or defamatory matter without lawful excuse (malice in law) and if it may mean an evil motive or ill-will in making the publication (malice in fact)

A former employee of yours gave your name to an employer as a reference and that employer calls you for a reference.

You say, "Well, frankly, I found that this employee caused morale problems."

As long as you act in good faith and without malice, and your statement is not made to more people than necessary, then the defense of qualified privilege protects you if the former employee sues you for defamation.

You gave your honest opinion and the caller had a legitimate interest in hearing it.

A newspaper columnist may write that a Member of Parliament (an MP) says he supports equality and equal rights, but he opposes same-sex marriages.

The columnist writes that the MP is hypocritical.

If the MP sues the columnist for defamation, the columnist has the defense of fair comment.

Media articles that accurately report what was said at public meetings are also privileged, unless the meeting was not of public concern and the report was not for public benefit.

3. Publication of the imputation

to be libelous, the defamatory statement should be published

the communication of the libelous matter must be known and understood by a third person, other than the plaintiff and the defendant

4. Identity and certainty of the person libeled

the victim of the defamation must be clearly identified

identification need not be by name

a third person must identify him as the subject of defamatory matter

Kinds of Libel

Libel per se Libel per qoud

Libel per se (libel in itself or by itself)

which means ‘on its face’ in Latin is a defamatory statement which speaks for itself and

needs no further proof of its meaning or its intent is a falsely written accusation

Libel per quod

which means ‘under cover’ in Latin is written material that becomes libelous under certain

circumstances there is a necessity to look behind the face of the

writing to determine whether the statement actually does harm

Libelous per se

- if they are so obviously hurtful to the person aggrieved by them that they require no explanation and no proofs of their injurious character to make them actionable

“A stole -10,000 from B.”

“A has leprosy.”

“X plays tennis when he should be tending to the affairs of his bureau.”

“X knows only how to collect fees but not how to win cases.”

“X was born out of wedlock.”

“X is willing to sleep with any man.”

The following are pertaining to libel per se:

Libelous per quod

- Did the alleged defamatory article really cause injury? This had to be proved.

A newspaper publishes a birth announcement claiming that Sandra Williams on Main Street is the proud mother, but Sandra is a 16-year-old and a devout Christian, and the paper really meant to write about another Sandra who lives on Second Street.

The error is libel per quod because Sandra is a minor, and the announcement may suggest that she is promiscuous or immoral and not a devout Christian after all.

Defamation may also be committed in the headline and caption:

HEADLINE- “Murderer arrested” the plaintiff had been arrested but had not yet been

charged by the court as guilty

CAPTION- “(L-R) X X X have been arrested for smuggling…”

the people mentioned in the picture were balikbayan there was an erroneous switching of captions

(switcheroo) of two cuts on the same page

The law of defamation protects your reputation against false statements. If a person makes a false statement to someone and it hurts your reputation, you can sue the person who made the false statement for damages. But because of other competing rights in our society, such as free speech and fair comment, you will not always win.

References:

Cruz, Ceciliano-Jose. (2010). Campus Journalism and School Paper Advising. Quezon City: Rex Publishing Co., Inc.

Retrieved January 28, 2013 at  http://www.cba.org/bc/publicmedia / rights/240.aspx.

Kia S. Soneja BSE-ENG