"The Bane and Antidote Must Be Taken Together": A Recent British Columbia Court of Appeal Decision Reassures Publishers and Journalists

The recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in P.G. Restaurant Ltd. v. Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. may upset the stomachs but assuage the minds of publishers and journalists. P.G. Restaurant provides a strong legal precedent for the defamation law principle that a court must consider the overall affect of an article accused of defamatory meaning; a court is not to dissect an article minutely and view individual passages in isolation. The statements of the court, and the facts underlying the judgment offer useful guidance to publishers and journalists, those most at risk from potentially-costly defamation actions brought by the subjects of their articles.

Originally published in the September/October 2005 issue of Masthead: the Magazine about Magazines. Republished on this website with permission.