Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction
© 2017, Pacific Media Centre, Auckland University of Technology. All rights reserved. Defamation law offers a remedy when the plaintiff’s reputation is harmed by something the defendant publishes. At the heart of the action lies the question—what do the words complained about actually mean? The proc...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Pacific Media Centre, AUT
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56175 |
| _version_ | 1848759805793009664 |
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| author | Fernandez, Joseph |
| author_facet | Fernandez, Joseph |
| author_sort | Fernandez, Joseph |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2017, Pacific Media Centre, Auckland University of Technology. All rights reserved. Defamation law offers a remedy when the plaintiff’s reputation is harmed by something the defendant publishes. At the heart of the action lies the question—what do the words complained about actually mean? The process of determining defamatory meaning depends heavily on what the court finds to be the imputations conveyed by the matter concerned to ‘ordinary, reasonable people’. The process relies on assumption and conjecture, rather than on evidence. This article examines how this process applied in the Hockey v Fairfax Media case brought by Australia’s former Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey against Fairfax Media, which presented a paradox—the court described the journalists’ articles concerned in glowing terms but still found for the plaintiff. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:05:43Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-56175 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:05:43Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Pacific Media Centre, AUT |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-561752017-08-24T02:22:45Z Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction Fernandez, Joseph © 2017, Pacific Media Centre, Auckland University of Technology. All rights reserved. Defamation law offers a remedy when the plaintiff’s reputation is harmed by something the defendant publishes. At the heart of the action lies the question—what do the words complained about actually mean? The process of determining defamatory meaning depends heavily on what the court finds to be the imputations conveyed by the matter concerned to ‘ordinary, reasonable people’. The process relies on assumption and conjecture, rather than on evidence. This article examines how this process applied in the Hockey v Fairfax Media case brought by Australia’s former Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey against Fairfax Media, which presented a paradox—the court described the journalists’ articles concerned in glowing terms but still found for the plaintiff. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56175 Pacific Media Centre, AUT restricted |
| spellingShingle | Fernandez, Joseph Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title | Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title_full | Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title_fullStr | Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title_short | Defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| title_sort | defamatory meanings and the hazards of relying on the ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ fiction |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56175 |