What is libel and how does it affect journalists?

There is a stereotype that celebrity journalism tends to stem from fabricated stories purely written for clickbait, and to some extent, this is likely to be true. However, stories that can tarnish someone’s reputation can land the journalist in hot water.

One of the biggest legal challenges facing journalists is due to the issue of defamation. Defamation is, according to DAS Law, ‘the expression of an untrue insinuation against a person’s reputation’. If a journalist was to publish a story that was not true and deliberately tarnished someone’s reputation, then that person could then sue under libel law.

An example of a libel case in the media recently was when Johnny Depp tried to sue the Sun for libel after they called him a ‘wife beater’ during his highly publicised split from ex-wife Amber Heard. The trial, which went on for 16 days, found The Sun not guilty as the judge ruled enough evidence pointing towards Depp being involved in domestic abuse.

After a busy few months in court, Johnny Depp unfortunately spent a huge amount of money defending himself, without a great result. Yet this does prove how one short statement can cause a huge repercussion. This national, highly-publicised court case resulted in a further scandal against The Sun and further proved the sensationalism that The Sun revels in when it comes to celebrities. Although The Sun won the case, it still resulted in vast amounts of national publicity and the notorious paper has been known for poorly worded titles, as mentioned in my blog post about the Hillsborough Disaster.

Libel law is important in that is shows that journalists cannot just write anything to try and sell a story, however if there is enough evidence to support the story, they can refer to an A-List Hollywood actor as a ‘wife-beater’ if their actions prove it. To some, they may think The Sun has written far worse headlines against celebrities over the years, with far less repercussions, but it really must depend who has the money and lawyers to get them a place in court.

However, just because the libel law exists does not mean all defamation against people or celebrities is brought to light. Some celebrities do revel in any media attention they can get, which relates to my blog post on the Kardashians, as for some, any publicity is good publicity!