Qualified Privilege Essay

There are four major defenses which can be relied upon defamation, justification, fair comment, absolute privilege; and qualified privilege. (Discuss) Qualified privilege, this exists for the same fundamental purpose as absolute privilege which is to protect those who say defamatory statements in circumstances where the common convenience and welfare of society demand such protection. If we compare absolute privilege and qualified privilege we can see that absolute privilege is limited to some defined occasions. On the other hand, qualified privilege applies to the protection of a wider variety of situations whereby it is in the public interest that individuals are able to comment freely on what they honestly believe to be true in their
There purpose is not necessarily to defame the group or the individual but instead they are trying to inform others of their behavior in society and how they are viewed by others. For example, if me and some of my friends inform P & P supermarket that one of the employees working there is a thief, we will not be doing it to intentionally defame the person but we are just trying to be honest and inform the business about the type of employee. This kind of information would come in handy to the business but it would have to be true because if it was untrue then me and my friends could be sued under this defence for trying to defame and ruin the reputation of the employee. A major thing that is happening today is defamatory statements and political discussions in the media. We can see that the press, newspapers and especially magazines write many defamatory things about celebrities and other idols. They feel free to give their opinions and comment on these people. In a way they are taking advantage of this because they aren’t even afraid of presenting untrue facts to the world and they do not fear liability for