Golding renews call for review of libel laws
March 15, 2007
Opposition Leader Bruce Golding has renewed his call for a review of the 19th century libel and defamation laws to allow the media more freedom to report on public officials.
These persons, Mr. Golding argues, are to be held to a higher standard than the average citizen and should, therefore, not be subject to the same protection under law.
"Some of the protection that public officials like myself can now claim under the Libel and Slander Act, I don't think we should be entitled to that," he told journalists attending a Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) forum in Kingstonyesterday.
Describing the current statutes as restrictive and outdated, Mr. Golding said: "I believe that when you hold public trust, you put yourself in a glass bowl and you must be prepared for the public to scrutinise you in everything that you do."
Self-censorship
Mr. Golding argued that the restrictive libel laws were often used to frighten journalists into self-censorship.
The Opposition Leader first tabled a resolution for a review of the libel laws in the legislature in May last year. The PAJ had earlier called for a repeal of the libel laws, which were last reviewed in 1973. Addressing a Carter Center forum last year, PAJ President Desmond Richards described the current laws as oppressive, a view he restated during the National Journalism Awards held last December....
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
