Defamation - what are the risks for news sites’ blogs?
Posted by
Julie Tomlin
on 13 February 2006 at 13:12
Tags: Blogs, Libel, Scotland, Scotsman
Steven Vass, the Sunday Herald’s media correspondent says media lawyers will be swallowing hard at The Guardian’s plans to massively increase reader interaction on its website this year. Having already been the only newspaper to allow readers to post messages straight on its site, it is about to take the risks to a whole new level, he argues.
In Scotland, the Herald, Scotsman and the Daily Express have all decided not to let readers add comments. Only the Press and Journal in Aberdeen and the Daily Record are allowing any reader contributions on their web sites.
But the Guardian’s Simon Waldman responds in his blog that these risks are nothing new as the newspaper has run open talkboards and other comment systems for almost ten years. As well as defamation, the challenge is also about cntempt, he argues.
