Artemus Jones

The Artemus Jones case is the most famous foundation defamation cases. A London newspaper journalist published a story about a fictitious character with the name 'Artemus Jones'. The character was described as spending time with a women who was not his wife. The newspaper was sued for defamation because a real man with the name Artemus Jones had his reputation taken into question. This is just one example of why journalist have to be careful so they are not sued with defamation. Journalist need to be make sure that when using a fake name that no one else really has the name. Journalist need to have a defense ready to protect themselves if they is a chance that the material could be considered defamatory.

Defamation is the harming or damaging of a person's reputation. It is a civil wrong. The law for defamation protect people's reputations and their 'good name'.

There are three major things necessary in order for it to be considered defamation. The first is publication. The act of publication makes something known to another or makes it accessible to another. The  plaintiff has to prove that the material in question was published to at least one person that is not them or the defendant. Journalist need to be aware of the third person rule when researching. Also, if someone republishes material that is considered defamatory, then they can be sued too even though they didn't originally publish it.

The second is the content that was published must have carried defamatory imputations. Defamatory imputations are unclear under the Defamation Act. It is anything that might damage a person's reputation, cause someone to think less of the person, hold a person up to ridicule or cause others to shun and avoid them. These are unclear because it all depends on the person who is viewing the information published and what their opinion is on how a person's reputation can be ruined. The third part is identification. A person claiming defamation will have to prove he or she can be identified in connection with the material.

Any living person can bring an action for defamation. There is a short list of who cannot be defamed. People must be alive in order to sue or be sued for defamation, but it is quite possible to be defaming a living person connected to the dead one. Groups and organizations cannot be defamed because identifying the person the defamatory material is talking about is difficult. However, corporations with less than 10 people can be defamed because identification in this case is fairly easy with only 10 people to base the defamatory material on.