Reputation of a person is something which plays a vital role in one’s existence in the society. Living in this digital era is getting difficult because of impulsive posting, communication and media publication. The influence of defamation law on publication deserves close investigation. People’s claims against media publication and social media for using their personal information is now a common sighting. Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that[i]–
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interferences or attacks.”
Media plays a prominent role in reaching to the people and communicating to the people at large because they gather the information and let us know the happenings of every corner of the world through every minute. Media consists of cinema, radio, newspaper including social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
The convenience of providing information is directly proportional to the inconvenience caused by the abuse of the mediums of communication.
A publication is defamatory if it channels an attribution regarding person or property which consequently lowers down the person’s reputation in the society or state. In addition to this, defamation has been defined in Indian Penal Code under Section 499 as[ii]-:
“whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that imputation will harm, the reputation of the person is said to defame the person.”
The issue of defamation was raised because of the enactment of the Human Rights Act, 1988 in which it was incorporated that every individual shall have the right of freedom of speech, hold opinions and to impart information and ideas without any interference of public authority[iii].
In India, Constitutional facet of the media law is subjected to certain fundamental freedoms. No direct freedom is provided but it has to be in consonance with Article 19 of the Constitution. This article states that every person has the right to freedom of speech and expression and is also subjected to certain restrictions as provided under Article 19(2) of the Constitution[iv] but this freedom is being used by media publication to an extreme level. In addition to this, Section 499 of Indian Penal Code has to comply with Section 500, 501 and 502 of Indian Penal Code for determining the punishment of the level of the offence committed.
Position in USA:
In United State of America, the freedom of press is incorporated in the First Amendment of the American Constitution which also prohibits the Congress from making any such law which violates the freedom of press subject to certain restrictions such as words that contains abuse and obscenity, inciting or urging to commit crime and defamation. This freedom or press principle is borrowed from the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Position in UK:
Unlike USA and India, United Kingdom does not provide any such restricted and guaranteed right. People can use this freedom in an absolute way and to at any extent as long as it does not infringe the rule of common law. Moreover, the decision of the Parliament is supreme.
Position in Germany:
In Germany, freedom of press and opinion is placed on the top fundamental element of the democracy which is incorporated in the Article 5 of the Basic law.[v] Censorship is exerted as to put restriction on media publications such as motion pictures and video games to adults only. Germany is one of the countries rated amongst the top 20 on the Press Freedom Index.
Conclusion:
The inter-relationship of media and defamation cannot be put to an end here as our country needs to adopt a broad perspective. Media is the medium of providing the information to the people so it very necessary to ensure that the information is correct before providing the same to the masses. Therefore, any information made with intent to deceive another would bring an adverse effect and leads to defamation. Therefore, media and defamation are two sides of the same coin but the paths are different because they don’t overlap each other and should be enacted with the implied limitations.
[i] Article 12 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
[ii] Section 499 of Indian Penal Code.
[iii] Article 10 of Human Rights Act, 1988.
[iv] Authorizes the government to impose, by law, reasonable restrictions upon the freedom of speech and expression “in the interests of public order.” To understand the Supreme Court’s public order jurisprudence, it is important to break down the sub-clause into its component parts, and focus upon their separate meanings. Specifically, three terms are important: “reasonable restrictions”, “in the interests of”, and “public order”, The Internet Centre for society, Free Speech and Public Order, Gautam Bhatia.
[v] Germany-Land of Newspapers, Deutschland.de, https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/culture/newspapers-and-freedom-of-the-press-in-germany
