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

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