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Defences of defamation There are 4 main common law defences to defamation: * Justification * Fair comment * Absolute privilege * Qualified privilege Justification Justification basically means that no matter how damaging a statement is it may actually be true, there the defence is that the truth can never be defamation. However justification is not easily proved as the burden of proof rests upon the defendant to prove that the statement is true. An example is: Jeffrey archer V The Star newspaper 1987 In this case the promiscuous Jeffrey archer was accused of having sex with a prostitute. In court the prostitute gave most of the evidence but she was compared to the politician's wife who was described as elegant and of high social standing, so the witness lacked credibility. Difficulties also arrive where the allegation is of a general nature rather than a specific one such as in: Bookbinder V Tebbit 1989 During an election campaign Tebbit referred to the...

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