Day 177 - 26 Oct 95 - Page 41
1
2 "It is precisely the application of the
3 principle so clearly expounded in these passages
4 which, in a libel action where no legal innuendo
5 is alleged, prevents either side from calling
6 witnesses to say what they understood who
7 are...."
8
9 MR. MORRIS: Sorry, I cannot find where you are now.
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: H on page 455.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Last complete paragraph
14
15 MR. RAMPTON: "....prevents either side from calling
16 witnesses to say what they understood the
17 allegedly defamatory publication to mean. But
18 it would surely be even more destructive of the
19 principle that a publication has 'the one and
20 only meaning that the readers as reasonable men
21 should have collectively understood the words to
22 bear' to allow the plaintiff, without evidence,
23 to invite the jury to infer that different
24 groups of readers read different parts of the
25 entire publication and for that reason
26 understood it to mean different things, some
27 defamatory, some not."
28
29 If that principle be applicable to a plaintiff, as it
30 obviously is, equally, my Lord, it is applicable to a
31 defendant.
32
33 Over the page, top of page 456:
34
35 "Whether the text of a newspaper article
36 will, in any particular case, be sufficient to
37 neutralise the defamatory implication of a
38 prominent headline will sometimes be a nicely
39 balanced question for the jury to decide and
40 will depend not only the nature of the libel
41 which the headline conveys and the language of
42 the text which is relied tone to neutralise it
43 but also on the manner in which the whole of the
44 relevant material is set out and presented."
45
46 Then, finally, in the speech of Lord Nicholls on page 457,
47 the paragraph starting below letter C:
48
49 "This is not to say that words in the text of
50 an article will always be efficacious to cure a
51 defamatory headline. It all depends on the
52 context, one element in which is the layout of
53 the article. Those who print defamatory
54 headlines are playing with fire. The ordinary
55 reader might not be expected to notice curative
56 words tucked away further down in the article.
57 The more so, if the words are on a continuation
58 page to which a reader is directed. The standard
59 of the ordinary reader gives a jury adequate
60 scope to return a verdict meeting the justice of
