You can't handle the truth!
Jack Nicholson famously said in A Few Good Men (1992): “you can’t handle the truth!” But how much trouble will I be in if I reveal an unpleasant truth about someone? Or alternatively, what if I bend the truth to show them in a negative light?
Defamation as a body of law
treads a line between protecting ones reputation and upholding the democratic
promises of free speech.
But what is defamation? To
defame someone is to make a communication about them that causes them to be
exposed to ridicule, their public perception to be lowered or that causes
others to shun or avoid them. Liability for defamation lies with the individual
and/or the entity that published the defamatory material. This means that any
person involved in the publication, from the director to the producer may face
liability. You can imagine that anyone working in the media industry needs to
tread very carefully when communicating about a third! After all, in showbiz,
reputation is everything.
An individual may bring an
action in defamation if they have been the subject of defamatory material that
has been communicated to a third party. In most cases a corporation does not
have a cause of action in defamation, but caution should be exercised in the event
there are other avenues of legal relief.
These principles remain the
same across all media platforms, whether in film, a YouTube hit, newspaper
article or an Instagram post.
What if you are writing
fiction, but using real life personalities as inspiration? The practice of
fictionalising real individuals is an effective protection against defamation
claims only when the individuals are no longer identifiable.
If you need to get a handle
on defamation law, please contact the Entertainment Department at Marshalls+Dent Lawyers.