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3.
(2)
(3)
It shall be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) for the
person charged to prove that he had reasonable grounds for
believing that the news to which the charge relates was
No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be
commenced without the consent of the Attorney General.
01
The authority to consent to a prosecution under this section
will be reserved to the Attorney General personally. His decision
should be sought by way of memorandum in writing from the Counsel concerned, With supporting documentation. The following are the matters which the Attorney General will take into account.
4.
First, he will need to be satisfied that what has been
published is news: ie that it was taken by those who heard or read
it to be an assertion of fact by the person publishing and can
fairly be described as 'news'. The Attorney General will apply the
distinction made 60 years ago by C P Scott, former Editor of the
Manchester Guardian: "Comment is free but facts are sacred".
5.
A distinction must be drawn between statements which are
presented as being true and those which are merely presented as
reports of what someone else has said. Genuine reports of
"unconfirmed rumours circulating..." are themselves 'news' and, if
true, will be unobjectionable even if the rumours are false.
Similarly, if a public figure has made a certain statement, a report
to that effect will be true even if the statement itself is false.
In every case, the question is: what is the fact being asserted?
6.
Secondly, the Attorney General will look at all the credible
and admissible evidence available to the Crown and assess the
likelihood of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the news was false. If a person who is under investigation for a suspected
offence continues to maintain that the news is true, the evidence of
falsity must be examined and tested with particular care.
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