Page 52, April 4, 1979 - North Shore News: North Vancouver Chamber > Dickson at page 642: ‘It is not + North Van Chamber defends press freedom of Commerce has urged Attorney-General Garde Gardom to amend the libel and slander act so as to give greaier protection to a newspaper which prints, in good faith, letters from ‘readers with which it does nol agree. - The Chamber’s move arises from a recent libel case involving a Saskat- chewan newspaper. It .published a reader's letter strongly attacking a promineni local personality,. - who then sued the paper. The publication was found guilty of libel and ordered to pay substantial damages because i1 testified thai it did not agree with the views of the letter-wriier. The judge ruled that, if the paper had supporied the wriler’s views, 11 could have claimed the defence of “‘fair commen:”’. The only other way in which the ‘‘fair comment’’ defence could be claimed was if the paper could prove that the views expressed in the letter were the true views of the person writing it. In the Saskatchewan case the letter-writer had dis- appeared before the fibel trial came up and could not, therfore, be produced as a witness to testify that the views in the letter were genuinely his own. So the paper took the rap. The implications of the Saskatchewan judgment, which have been widely analyzed in the newspaper industry press, are: 1. Unless a newspaper can be sure of producing a letter-writer as a witness in any possible future libel action agains! it arising from the publication of the letter, it ts at risk in publishing any letter with which it does not agree. 2. The only safe course for a newspaper following the Saskatchewan verdict, there- fore, is to ignore all letters with which it does not agree and to print only those whose views it supports. 3. if newspapers in future followed that course (in order to ensure that they retained the defence of ‘‘fair comment’’), the inevitable result would be the stifling of many honestly held expres- sions of opinion—espccially in communities served by only a single paper. The full text of = the Chamber of Commerce letter to the altorney-gencral is as follows: “The North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce is concerned that the judgment of the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada tn Cherneskey v. Armadalc Publishers and King, may be imerpreted as holding that, if & newspaper prints in its “Letwers to the Editor’’ section a letter with which i does not agree, the defence of fair comment would not be available to that newspaper, even though tts proved that it reflects the truc views of the person writing it. “The effects of such an interpretation are lucidly and apily stated by Mr. Justice and new grievances, proposed remedies get aired. . only the right but the duty of the press, in pursuit of its legitimate objectives, toact as a sounding board for the free flow of new and different ideas. lt is one of the few ‘means of getting the heter- edox and controversial before the public. Many of the unorthodox points of view get newspaper space through letters to the editor; it is one of the few ways in which the public gains access to the press. By these means various points of view, old and The public interest is incidentally served by provi- ding a safety valve for the people. _ ‘Newspapers will noi be able to provide a forum for dissemjnation of ideas if they are limited to publishing opinions with which they agree. If wit ors are faced with the .hivice of publishing only those Jetters which espouse théir own particular ideology or being without defence if sued for defam- ation, democratic dialogue will be stifled. Healthy debate will likely be replaced by monotonous repetition of majoritarian ideas and con- formity to accepted taste. ‘In one-newspaper towns, of which there are many, competing ideas. will longer gain access. Readers will be exposed to a single political, economic and social point of view. In a public controversy the tendency will be to suppress those letters with which the editor is not in agreement. ‘This runs directly counter to the increasing tendency of North American newspapers generally to become less devoied to the publisher's Opinions and to print, without fear or favour, the widest possible range of opinions on matters of public interest. The integrity of a newspaper rests not on the publication of leuers with which it is ‘in agreement, but rather on the publication of letiers expressing ideas to which it is violently opposed.’ “In view of the foregoing, The North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce requests that you enact tegisilauion amending the Libel & Slander Act to provide that the defence of fair comment ts available to a newspaper if it reproduces, withour any editorial comments of its own in its ““Letuers to the Editor'’ section, a letter which reflects the true views of the person writing it, whether or noi these are the views of the newspaper publishing such a letier.”’ NOW'S THE TIME TO BUCKLE DOWN! a: -no. 4 FOR TIRE SALE Rleliccaart’s PREMIUM V 4-PLY POLYESTER CORD WHITEWALL TIRES (EXCEPT TIRES) TIRE OFFER EXPIRES : R itd. APRIL 17, 1979. REG. WOOLCO PRICE 4 FOR 115.08 . *A78 X13 7 . a SALE PRICE Ww OA Ahr a. Each $24 3 5 . ; : FOR ; NEU : ; 4 . “*078X13 *678X14 4 FOR .. REG. 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