Supreme Court reserved judgement in important libel appeal

The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved judgement, as it was expected to do, in an important appeal that has broad implications for investigative and hard-hitting journalism in Canada. The appeal involves a $125,000 libel judgement against the Ottawa Citizen.

The appeal hinges on whether journalists can defeat libel claims even if some of their facts turn out to be unproven, as long as they acted fairly and in the public interest. This is a standard that is upheld elsewhere in the world and media lawyers for many of Canada's largest newspaper publishers argued it should be Canada's standard, too.

Here is some mainstream media coverage:

• Lawyer argues defamation law outdated (Globe and Mail)
• Justify why libel law needs change, top court tells media (Toronto Star)
• Libel law needs drastic change, media lawyers tell top court (Canadian Press)