Victory for free speech as libel bill passes
Changes will be made to England’s defamation law after a three-and-a-half-year campaign, writes Padraig Reidy
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Dara Ó Briain on libel reform
Comedian and presenter Dara Ó Briain has been a long-time supporter of the Libel Reform Campaign. He spoke to Channel 4 News about the need for a public interest defence in the government’s defamation bill.
There must be a new public interest defence in the Defamation Bill, scientists, entertainers and campaigners tell Government
PAST EVENT: 27 June: Mass lobby for libel reform
Mass lobby for libel reform
Join high profile supporters of the Libel Reform Campaign in Parliament on Wednesday 27 June to ensure Parliamentarians and policy makers know there is public support for a public interest defence in the Defamation Bill
The Defamation Bill addresses some important issues, such as reducing libel tourism and providing protection for academic publication, but the Bill falls short in crucial areas. There is no worthwhile public interest defence and the Bill offers no restrictions on the ability of corporations to silence critics. Also, instead of bringing the law into the 21st century by protecting website operators, the current draft of the Bill reduces their protection from being made liable for the words of others.
Unless these issues are addressed, libel threats and libel actions will still be used to bully newspaper journalists, scientists, bloggers, consumer groups, human rights activists and others.
The meeting will hear from supporters who have been part of the campaign since it started: Dara Ó Briain, Professor Brian Cox and Dave Gorman; organisations backing libel reform; the three charities at the heart of the Libel Reform Campaign (Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science); and victims of the libel laws including Simon Singh, Ben Goldacre and Peter Wilmshurst.
In this final push for a truly fair and effective Defamation Bill, we need your help:
Please write to your MP. You can find a template email and full instructions about contacting your MP on the Libel Reform Campaign pages.
Attend the meeting. Please come along to Committee Room 10 at 10.30am on 27 June. More details and directions can be found on the Mass Lobby event page.
And ask your MP to meet you there. After the meeting, you can arrange to raise your concerns about libel reform directly to your own MP. Details of how to arrange this are also on the Mass Lobby event page.