« Information-sharing by the government: deja vu | Main | Read this, if you haven’t already »
Defamation and satire
By Steven | April 24, 2013
Memo to anyone thinking of suing or threatening someone else for defamation after that person made fun of them.
Don’t.
It’s not that the law clearly protects humorous speech and satire. That question is a bit vexed. It’s defamatory to say something that brings another person into ridicule. So it looks like that is fairly easily satisfied. Actually, those looks are deceptive.
But that’s not the reason not to bring the threat. The reason is that you will invariably look like a complete plonker who can’t take a joke. This is what has happened, I think, to Colin Craig.
(Also, unless you want to look even more like a plonker, try to refrain from admitting that the article you’re objecting to is obviously satire when your lawyer’s letter says it “cannot be dismissed as satire”.)
If that’s not enough, there are also legal reasons not to threaten defamation.
For a start, in many cases, a court will find that the article would not have been understood in a defamatory sense. That is, it won’t affect your reputation because everyone will realise that it’s made up. That’s particularly the case where there are strong contextual indications that it is satire (such as other, obviously made up quotes in the story, obvious exaggeration, a ridiculous headline, and a bunch of other equally silly stories surrounding the article “Bob Parker waiting to be returned to space). Be aware that the courts are also starting to accept that online speech is often to be taken with a grain of salt.
You might be frustrated that some people come up to you and say “Damn, Craig, I was surprised to see you say that”. You can’t line up some people in court to say what they think the article meant. That’s a question for the court to determine itself, on the basis of what some hypothetical ordinary, reasonable reader would have thought.
But that’s not the end of it. The plaintiff would have to identify a “sting” – that is, the barb between the lines that says something bad about him. What is it here? Here’s what he was (falsely!) quoted as saying:
Williamson likes to talk about big gay rainbows,” said Craig, “but it would help if he understood what the rainbow actually means. After Noah’s flood, God painted a giant rainbow across the sky, which was a message that he would never again flood the world, unless we made him very angry. And we have.”
What is the sting here? That he has extreme Christian beliefs? It’s not entirely clear – and I see that Mr Craig’s lawyer didn’t identify one. Once such a sting is spelt out, as it must be, it can – even in humour cases – then open up some other defences. It might be argued that the sting is true, or that it’s honest opinion, or that it’s covered by qualified privilege.
Those defences can be problematic in humour cases (“Oh, of course I didn’t intend it to be taken seriously, but if it was, it was my honest opinion”.) But those defences can’t be dismissed out of hand. I would expect a court to be sympathetic to an honest opinion defence in many satire situations.
I note that Colin Craig has reportedly withdrawn his threat. Good on him. But too late to avoid looking like a plonker.
Incidently, The Civilian handled the whole thing with aplomb, I think. He quickly added an amusing clarification that removed even the faint possibility that anyone could any longer regard it as defamatory. But he didn’t accede to Mr Craig’s more unreasonable demands. Well played, that man.
Topics: Defamation | 69 Comments »
69 Responses to “Defamation and satire”
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
April 26th, 2013 at 11:27 pm
Doesn’t take much for a religious zealot to feel defamed. Betcha, if you were to go to his home for dinner, he’d say grace.
October 3rd, 2017 at 2:16 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 4368 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
October 13th, 2017 at 1:18 am
Pandora charms
Pandora charms
November 21st, 2017 at 3:32 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 82453 additional Informations|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
November 21st, 2017 at 8:14 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you can find 36436 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
November 25th, 2017 at 9:58 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 29424 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
December 1st, 2017 at 2:08 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 18943 more Infos|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
December 28th, 2017 at 2:06 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 82536 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
January 15th, 2018 at 11:23 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 68991 additional Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
January 20th, 2018 at 12:46 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 64107 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
February 5th, 2018 at 9:13 pm
cheap pandora charms jewelry
cheap pandora charms jewelry
February 11th, 2018 at 8:34 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 86538 additional Informations|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
February 19th, 2018 at 8:40 pm
cheap pandora charms jewelry sale
cheap pandora charms jewelry sale
February 25th, 2018 at 11:58 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 83729 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
March 1st, 2018 at 1:04 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 78551 more Informations|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
March 26th, 2018 at 6:01 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 44310 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
March 28th, 2018 at 10:50 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 73043 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
April 9th, 2018 at 9:13 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 33555 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
April 19th, 2018 at 12:58 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 24688 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
May 5th, 2018 at 12:58 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 50561 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
June 6th, 2018 at 1:54 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 45294 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
June 10th, 2018 at 1:12 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 65605 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
July 1st, 2018 at 4:33 am
animal onesies kigurumi
you’re in point of fact a good webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing. It sort of feels that you’re doing any distinctive trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a fantastic process on this topic!
July 3rd, 2018 at 5:50 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 91172 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
July 8th, 2018 at 10:54 am
nba live 19 download
most certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
July 9th, 2018 at 9:35 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 3510 additional Informations|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
July 12th, 2018 at 5:56 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 28569 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
July 16th, 2018 at 10:52 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you can find 32221 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
July 28th, 2018 at 11:37 am
magnetic couple bracelets
I know this site presents quality dependent content and additional data, is there any other web site which gives these kinds of stuff in quality?
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:50 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 22714 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 4th, 2018 at 7:24 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More here|Find More|Find More Informations here|Here you can find 43368 additional Informations|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 7th, 2018 at 8:10 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 73336 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 10th, 2018 at 7:10 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 63391 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 14th, 2018 at 7:45 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 37345 more Infos|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 15th, 2018 at 10:38 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 79337 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 18th, 2018 at 2:09 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 39366 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
August 21st, 2018 at 11:59 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 55805 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 1st, 2018 at 4:44 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you can find 62906 more Informations|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 4th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More on|Read More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 46573 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 6th, 2018 at 10:48 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 95377 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 9th, 2018 at 10:55 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 77975 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 13th, 2018 at 1:56 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 49051 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
September 13th, 2018 at 2:51 am
2carter
theboostingsociety, countryhouseofdoorcounty,
September 13th, 2018 at 10:14 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 59478 additional Infos|Infos on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
October 18th, 2018 at 7:24 pm
2015 air jordan 6 low oreo for sale 3 2018 off white nike
nike air oscillate xx jumpsmashepiphany princenike dunk low gs white varsity red university bluevirgil abloh customises off white jays for michael
October 30th, 2018 at 9:58 pm
nike sb dunk high premium gucci holiday 2009
discount online nike free run 3.0 v4 womens shoes on sale green greywomens air jordan force 8 ajf 8 black redwomens nike air vapormax flyknit 2 0 hydrogen blue pink black 942843 102men off white x nike air more uptempo basketball shoe 85673 224 for sal…
November 7th, 2018 at 3:15 pm
nike air jordan i 1 retro mens shoes high black gold
nike kyrie 2 kyrache release remindernike lunarsolo womens dark grey multicolor black pure platinum whiteasics womens gel flux 4 running shoe 5.5nike blazer low womens shoe aa3962 605 coral stardust sail sail
November 18th, 2018 at 1:48 pm
adidas beckenbauer allround d65437
balenciaga race runners multimaterial contrasted runners black pink new releasenew year deals nike air yeezy 2 glow in the darknew balance 850 white purple limecheap adidas eqt support 93 17 turbo red
December 8th, 2018 at 12:25 pm
laiwobuy
bybuythin, cwcgirls,
December 10th, 2018 at 9:36 pm
airmax-shox
childlearningdifficulties, brandycattoor,
December 15th, 2018 at 12:58 am
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 3023 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]
December 22nd, 2018 at 8:22 pm
mochila nike sb rpm bkpk aop iguana ba5404 223
kopen nike air jordan cp3 7 schoenen wit blauw heren be nieuwe nike freeimage the adidas superstar 80s clean is stripeless image 3nike blazer vintage brownwomen s shoes nike air revolution sky hi cheap price blackorange 632181
December 29th, 2018 at 11:26 am
billig nike roshe run dam skor rimligt pris rostfriaarbeten lagrase36502360
nike tanjun zapatillas mujer 818384 061 negras y rosasnike 2014 holiday free flyknit chukka hypebeastbaskets femme nike air force 1basket nike air max 90 prm rebel skull noir
January 1st, 2019 at 10:52 am
nike air jordan 1 retro 86 white gym red black 644490
mens nike air max 2009 si grey blacknike lebron 15 basketball shoesbuy new release mens air pegasus 32of air jordan 1 retro black toe gs
January 7th, 2019 at 11:11 pm
hombre nike 819802 nike court royale suede verde serraje appgbk
nike roshe run homme courir nike roshe one blanche et noir hchaussure nike air max 97 ultra 17 midnight navy hommenike blazer mid suede vintage w schoenen rood witadidas berna sko
January 16th, 2019 at 11:35 am
nike air huarache sneakers mens lifestyle shoes
new balance 574 femme chaussures wl574ebgel noosa tri 10 asics orange et jaune sold茅 脿 partir de 77adidas originals honey desert w sneakers for womennike free run 3 dubai
March 24th, 2019 at 2:16 pm
black grey flyknit air max 95 all
cheap mercurial sock bootsadidas iniki runner grey turbonike red running shoes air max 2018 deepbluesale online black royal blue white nike air zoom structure 20 mens running shoe clearance outlet
March 25th, 2019 at 11:34 am
nike air pegasus 89 cd1520 001 sko
nike kd vi elite premium photo blue metallic gold midnight navy herrvans customs glitter slip on damnike air zoom hombre nike air yeezy nike forceair jordan air jordan 10 air jordan x 10 original seattle supersoncis white black kelly yellow gold herr
March 30th, 2019 at 10:43 am
goedkope nike lunar 5.0 heren blauw
air max 1 grise et vertenike cortez kenny 1 schuhe damennike air max 1 ultra 2 0 flyknit metallic gold hommenike air jordan xx 20 original east coast chutney white black heren
March 31st, 2019 at 11:30 am
nike hypervenom phantom unisport
nike kyrie irving 1 womens grey black basketball shoe2016 sale nike air max 87 trainers white red black womens shoesnike air max 97 og black voltjordan retro 6 infrared for sale
April 4th, 2019 at 11:44 am
nike air jordan 1 og laney uomo
new balance 255 copper schoenenzapatillas nike air foamposite one 2016zapatillas adidas adi ease advnike air max 95 lx smokey blue aa1103 002 03 homme
May 2nd, 2019 at 12:00 am
asics femme pour marathon
nike womens shox turbo 10 sportschoenennike lunarepic low flyknit 2 paarse dames schoenen 863780 502air force 1 low ethiopian clowns schuhe damennew balance x 90 herre
June 23rd, 2019 at 4:01 am
nike kyrie 4 herren schuhe 943806 102
nike herren 852431 600 basketballschuhenike air max 90 essential blanche turquoisenike dunk haute pro sb argent cat 305050 162 blanc chili rougenike mercurial vapor xii academy neymar mg dam
June 26th, 2019 at 10:40 am
mens nike air max 90 trainers black ivory white
nike hypervenom iii elite dynamic fit fg schoenenherren nike free run 2 schuhe schwarz gelb billig deutschlanddamen nike air vapormax flyknit string turnschuhe 849557 202 graukj酶p dame nike air max 90 print navy pris
July 5th, 2019 at 12:10 am
nike air max flyknit womens black white
nike air griffey max 1 safari sneakers addictnike roshe run be true size 10 5air jordan 3 og black cement release informationcheap nike air max 1 black smoke white men trainers online
July 13th, 2019 at 1:14 am
2018 beste nike air max thea herren angebote xa353
nike jr magista onda ii df fg kids orangeauthentique acheter nike air max 90 femme blanche xwy5pcxlbuty nike air max 90 25th red velvet infrared 42nike zoom field general apple green white yellow strike
July 18th, 2019 at 9:25 am
nike flyknit air max bleu jaune
blancas nike air max 1 ultra 2.0 essential low hombre zapatillaskorting heren nike air max 2017 kpu grijs rood salejd sports nike air max 1 essentialnike womens white blue air max ltd
July 19th, 2019 at 11:43 pm
nike 855810 401 scarpe da trail running donna
hombre mujer nike air huarache bronzine zapatillas bronzine gold 634835 7002017 le plus r茅cent nike air max 90 mesh ps chaussures mixtenike air force 1 25th low casual sneakers red nike women shoes t32xnike wmns lunarglide 8 oc scarpe da corsa bambina
August 9th, 2019 at 8:09 am
[…] Here you will find 56542 more Info on that Topic: medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=608 […]