Author’s qualified privilege

Michael Charman v Orion Publishing Group Ltd and others CA LSG 25 October

Graeme McLagan, a journalist of many years’ standing, wrote a book entitled Bent Coppers and subtitled ‘The inside story of Scotland Yard’s battle against police corruption’. The claimant alleged that references to him in the book were defamatory. The judge rejected the defence of qualified privilege because, although the problem of corruption in the police was a matter of public interest, the book was neither ‘reportage’ nor responsible journalism because the author’s approach did not achieve the necessary neutral balance.