Unsurprisingly, as a consequence, the press have become terribly risk averse, and that impacts not just on traditional investigative journalism but across the board.” “You are looking at the potential of closure for one defamation case. “€2 million is enough to close a number of newspapers,” he said. Michael Kealey, in-house counsel for Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Irish Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, told IPI the group’s call was not hyperbole.
It estimated that libel actions have cost Irish newspapers €30 million since 2010 alone. Last year, NewsBrands Ireland, which represents the country’s newspaper industry and which has made defamation reform an advocacy priority, warned that spiralling damage awards “threaten the very existence of media organisations”. The resulting picture is a watchdog media under pressure. According to experts, the Leech decision in particular, has also dealt a serious setback to reform efforts.Īware of the potential for even simple errors to trigger six-figure payouts and faced with the prospect of wildly unpredictable court trials, Irish media houses are forced to rely on a careful risk calculus to avoid financial ruin. While unexpected, the Leech ruling nevertheless fits a pattern of runaway libel awards that increasingly dwarf those found in other EU countries and that Irish lawyers and journalists interviewed by the International Press Institute (IPI) say pose a serious threat to press freedom and investigative journalism. It then described the De Rossa case as a more serious example – despite having awarded Leech more than three times as much as De Rossa. Yet it went on to conclude that the case could not be considered among the most serious to come before the Irish courts.
#Monica leech professional#
The Court justified the unprecedented sum – somewhat less than the record €1.875 million the jury in the case originally awarded – in part by citing the “profound impact” of the allegations on Leech’s personal and professional life. In a controversial ruling in December 2014, the Supreme Court surprised legal observers by awarding €1.25 million to a communications consultant, Monica Leech, who was alleged in the press to have performed sexual favours in return for government contracts. Yet while €380,000 may have been “top of the bracket” in 1999, in 2016 it’s positively quaint.
#Monica leech free#
The compensation awarded – the highest ever upheld by an Irish appeals court in a libel case at the time – was denounced by media groups as “excessive and disproportionate” and a threat to free speech.Ī large sum, indeed, the Supreme Court agreed.īut it noted: “But the libel was serious and grave … and the jury would have been justified in going to the top of the bracket.” In 1999, the Irish Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict ordering a newspaper to pay 300,000 Irish pounds (€380,000 at the fixed exchange rate) in libel damages to a prominent left-wing politician.Īccording to the jury, the newspaper, the Sunday Independent, had falsely suggested that Democratic Left party leader Proinsias De Rossa had “been involved in or tolerated serious crime and that he had personally supported anti-semitism and violent communist oppression”. How much is a good name worth? If you happen to live in Ireland, the answer is millions – and gaining in value rapidly. In this in-depth piece, part of IPI’s ongoing coverage of libel laws and freedom of expression in Europe, we take a look at what’s contributing to the rise, how Irish media are feeling the pressure and what solutions are in sight. What’s in this article: The amount that media outlets in Ireland are forced to pay in defamation cases is far above the European average and continues to spiral, despite reform attempts.
Helsingin Sanomat Foundation Journalism Fellowship at IPI.
0 kommentar(er)
