The prospects for much-needed changes to the outdated libel laws of England and Wales received a fresh impulse in the past couple of days as Sense about Science, the Index on Censorship and English PEN joined together to lobby as the Coalition for Libel Reform.
The coalition has just re-launched the campaign for reform with a flurry of publicity to ensure that the laws are reset to maintain protection from defamation but without placing any disproportionate burden of proof on defendents. (I was fortunate to be invited to Wednesday’s celeb-packed launch but synchrotron duty, alas, prevented me from attending!)
_The campaign for libel reform
As we have seen, reform is necessary to release scientific discourse from the deadening effect of libel laws that make it too easy for wealthy individuals and organisations to silence critics with the mere threat of a libel suit. I’ve been banging on about this recently. And Nature has also lent support to the campaign for change.
The celebrated case of the science writer Simon Singh, who is being sued for libel for an article in the Guardian, sparked Sense About Science’s campaign for scientific and academic freedom from libel threats. Impressively, that campaign has racked up nearly 20,000 supporters, including scientists, authors, broadcasters and lawyers.
But now the push for libel reform is stepping up a gear and will be working to develop a much broader base of support. The new coalition aims to reach 100,000 or more signatories to ensure that politicians truly understand the level of public support for a change in the law. There are already encouraging signs of sympathetic responses from members of the three leading parties but the new campaign is determined to convert that initial momentum into a powerful political imperative for reform.
One immediate step that those in the UK can take is to sign the new petition (even if you have already put your mark to the earlier Sense about Science petition!). I’ve already done so and would urge you to do the same.
And, if you can locate pen, paper, envelope and a stamp, write to your MP to impress on them the need for reform. The petition web-site will allow you to email a form letter to your MP but I think that the more personal you can make your case, the more impact it is likely to have with your parliamentary representative. The campaign launched with lobbying of parliament today by academics, medical and science editors, human rights activists and writers, but that will only be the beginning.
And that’s not all. Those of us with a university affiliation can spread the word at work to raise support for the campaign. I was pleased to see that Malcolm Grant, the Provost of UCL has declared his support. I want to see if my own institution, Imperial College, will also give its backing to the campaign.
This won’t be my last word on the matter. Check out blog posts by JackofKent for a more legal insight into proceedings, or follow the hashtag #libelreform on Twitter to keep up with the campaign.
Nicely summarised, Stephen. I’ve duly signed the petition and sent the email to my MP (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever done that).
Well done Matt – I hope many others will follow suit, if they’ve not already done so.
And see you later at Imperial’s presentation of ‘Naturally Obsessed’…!
Interesting summary- they were discussing this issue in the New York Times today here. It was at the top of the home page this morning, but then someone decided not to play golf later in the day and it moved down.
Done, thanks. And on the case.
@Sabbi – thanks for the link to the NYT piece. It’s good to hear that this issue is getting an airing in the US. And so it should since US citizens have been targeted in the English Courts – all it takes is for a few copies of their book or article to have appeared in this country for them to be liable. But various state legislatures in the US have started to fight back by passing laws that deny English libel law any impact on their citizens.
This weekend a further ridiculous instance of the gulf between the US and the UK in terms of free speech or freedom on information was seen in the attempts by Tiger Woods to gag the UK press from reporting details of his private life. Details which are, of course, fully available in the US!
One last think – the NYT article gave me a chuckle since they had Simon Singh down as the author of “Fermat’s Enigma”. He has written separate books on Fermat’s Last Theorem and on the Enigma code but not, as far as I know, created a literary fusion… 😉
Good man Lee. I’m hoping that many others will follow suit.
Simon Singh will be speaking about his libel case at Imperial on Monday evening so I’ll be sure to report back on the event.
[Quick Aside] I think they renamed Singh’s Fermat book for the American audience (don’t ask me why). Like “The Philosophers Stone” became the “The Sorcerer’s stone” for HPotter (don’t ask me why).
Wood’s is using this law or a different gagging law? I’ll tell you everything you want to know about the golf-meister if I go to Science Online next year (or alternatively you can google it, how silly)!
Ha – thanks for the clarification. Paradoxically, while book titles seem to be frequently dumbed down for the US market, the US has a much more grown-up attitude to freedom of speech.
Woods is not using libel law but other provisions – injunctions – which allow gagging of our so-called free-press. A kind of pre-emptive libel strike. English law seems to place too much power in the hands of the rich; America’s democratic foundations are, well, more democratic. This is despite the fact that this country had its own revolutionary war to challenge the monarchy well before the Americans. I guess English revolution is a relatively mild form…!
Agreed, and I’m definitely for the reforms you discuss above (would Oliver Cromwell even agree though? 😉 ). Where you run into problems here are with issues like hate speech and the ability to freely say whatever you want to about scientific issues like global warming, fact or not. So things get murky in a different way- freedom of speech is an amazing and valuable basic right though.
Simon Singh has a piece in the Observer today. The comments thread has, as usual, thrown up (I use the phrase deliberately) at least one spectacularly bonkers chiropractor.
I saw that piece Austin – and left a comment myself (as scww). But clearly you have greater tenacity!
Not sure about “tenacity” – “stupidity” perhaps. There is an old internet adage that runs:
Normally, remembering this keeps me from getting involved in any argument involving:
(i) the Guardian’s threads, esp. anything on Comment is Free;
(ii) vaccination
(iii) both
Occasionally, though, one of the Unreality fraternity irritates me sufficiently that I forget these simple and useful rules.
PS I had worked out that scww was you, Stephen – links to your blog, you see. Cf the way one decodes the identity of reviewer number three who asks you to add citations to several of their papers in your Ms…