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Defence of fair publication on matter of public interest
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11. (1) The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 26:
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“Fair publication on matter of public interest
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26. (1) It shall be a defence (to be known as the ‘defence of fair publication on a matter of public interest’) to a defamation action for the defendant to prove that the publication was fair in all the circumstances of the case, in that—
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(a) the statement in respect of which the action was brought was on a matter of public interest,
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(b) the defendant reasonably believed that publishing the statement was in the public interest, and
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(c) the statement was published in good faith.
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(2) Subject to subsection (3), a court shall, for the purposes of determining whether subsection (1)(b) is proved, have regard to whether the belief was arrived at after the making of such enquiries and checks as it was reasonable to expect of the defendant.
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(3) Where the statement in respect of which the defamation action was brought was an accurate and impartial account of a dispute to which the plaintiff in the defamation action was a party, the court shall, in determining whether it was reasonable for the defendant to believe that publishing the statement was in the public interest, disregard any omission of the defendant to take steps to verify the truth of the imputation conveyed by it.”.
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(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.
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