MAR 17 '87 16:19 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
C
Alleged vagueness of 'false news 'public alam' etc.
P.18
Another critician of the clause 18 that terms and
concepts such as * false news' and 'public alarm' are
insufficiently clear and well-defined to be an adequate guide for
the preus as to what they can and cannot do.
2.
I am bound to say that in relation to the term 'false
news' I find that a surprising argument. I thought that
journalists spent most of their lives trying to get at the truth
and then cross-diecking to make sure they have got it.* And the
difference between what is true and what is not is crucial in
several areas of the Law. For example, in the civil law of
defmation the falseness of the libel is crucial If the
defence can prove the truth of what they published they will win
the case. Yet I have never heard it suggested that that is an
unworkable law, Here, of course, the defendant will not have to
prove the truth of the publication; all he will have to do is
Hat cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution's allegation/the news is
false.
#C. P. Scott, the famous editor of the Manchester Guardim, as ik
then was, some yeare ago, once said 'Comment is free, but fact 18
sacred'
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