Libel shock...newspaper wins

It is fair to say I rarely find myself lapsing into praise for the system of justice that prevails in Northern Ireland, or indeed for the judges who preside over the courts there.

To maintain the spirit of fairness, I should also say that I am not entirely impartial. In the days when I covered Irish affairs, a lot of money was once awarded in respect of an article I had written.

Now that did not seem especially fair at the time; the Daily Telegraph's leading counsel had described me as one of the finest witnesses he had seen in a Belfast court. But at least his praise meant that when I returned to London, I was treated as hero of the hour, perhaps having stopped the damages rising still higher, not a reckless oaf who deserved the sack.

Never mind all that. Let it be said loud and clear that Salut! is today full of admiration for the Northern Ireland Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr. He has just rectified one of the most preposterous judgments I have come across in four decades of attending or taking interest in criminal and civil cases the world over.

Lord Chief Justice Kerr overturned a £25,000 award against a newspaper that published a straightforward example of a restaurant critic doing her job: criticising a restaurant in which she had a meal and dining experience she considered sloppy and unappetising.

The judge ruled that the jury had failed to consider whether the reviewer displayed malice and would have been likely to find for the newspaper, the Belfast-based Irish News, had the trial judge instructed them correctly. I must admit that I thought the absence of malice was a defence available in America but not British (or Irish) jurisdictions, but nevertheless welcome its application in this case.

Although this was not made clear in the report (by the Associated Press) sent to me, Lord Chief Justice Kerr ordered a retrial. A report on Media Guardian fills in the gaps.

This is how Salut! reflected on the original proceedings a year or so ago:

The Irish News, in my experience, is a decent daily paper. It is traditionally read by Ulster's nationalist population but is unrecognisable from the days when death notices for terrorists would be enclosed within thick black borders and few Protestants would think of buying a copy.

Its food critic, Caroline Workman, sounds as if she is something of an authority in her field, having had some training in London restaurants and edited the Bridgestone restaurant guide.

She described her visit with friends to the west Belfast pizzeria as "hugely disappointing". The pate did not have much flavour, the flesh of her squid was a grey, translucent colour and her cola drink tasted unchilled, watery and flat.

There was plenty more she did not like about the meal and her rating, one mark out of five, was said to translate as "Stay at home".

The restaurateur considered the review a "hatchet job" and warmly greeted the jury's verdict as evidence that justice had been done.

Ciaran Convery, the owner of the restaurant, Goodfellas, probably saw no reason to consider that all his Christmases, birthdays, Saint's Days, lottery wins, raffle prizes and Community Chest cards had come at once when the jury took his side. People who sue newspapers, indeed any part of the media, expect to win as a matter of course.

When it comes to the laws of defamation, I have been known to say a newspaper's chief hope of victory rests on its ability to prove some truly heinous secret side of the plaintiff's character: that he is a paedophile, for example, or an embezzler or a Tory. Mr Convery being none of these things but an innocent purveyor of pizzas, his expectation of success was well-founded.

There is, of course, every possibility that far from taking heed of the Lord Chief Justice's findings, a new jury will uphold the first decision and make the Good Fella Convery cock-a-hoop all over again. In the meantime, while I am sure there cannot be a finer pizzeria in all of Ireland, forgive me if I settle for the Roscoff Brasserie, assuming it is still in business, next time I am in Belfast.

* Bill Taylor, in Comments, reminds us of the strident argument the long lost Richard d'Orléans presented in favour of clipping the wings of journalists, as he saw it, or effectively outlawing food, arts and sporting reviews, as I saw it. The original post and comments, and a sequel, are at the original version of Salut! in a series of articles headlined No Offence.
As it happens, that link takes you to the Feb 2007 archive of Salut! so you will find - indeed you will have to wade through - plenty of other things to read there - and a reminder of the livelier Comments activity that came this way during Richard's reign

Comments

[David O'Mahony]

A great day for fair comment and doing one's job. Just to pick up on your line about a newspaper's chief hope of victory in a defamation case, the Irish libel laws are being overhauled to reduce attacks on the plaintiff's character. You should (hopefully) be able to access a brief article on the subject via the link attached to my name.

[Bill Taylor]

As I recall, when you originally wrote about this appalling miscarriage of justice, it prompted an equally appalling flood of vituperation against the Irish News and what was seen as an unwarranted attack on the poor restaurateur and the unconscionable licence apparently enjoyed by newspapers in general. No consideration at all was given to the role of the professional critic, be it in the theatre of food, drama, literature or whatever.
The chief proponent of this untenable viewpoint has since vanished from this blog. I wonder if he might now return to castigate Lord Chief Justice Kerr for attempting to right a grave wrong. I wonder, too, how many people share his feelings and believe that the original court ruling gave both the Irish News and the owner of the pizzeria what they deserved.

[Colin Randall]

Quite right .......I have now added an appropriate footnote linking back to the original postings

[Bill Taylor]

Oh, but how sad. That footnote carries such an air of À la recherche du temps perdu.....
Ah well, after you with the madeleines.

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[Margaret]

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Margaret

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