-52128.
As formulated in Vizetelly what a defendant must show, on a balance
of probabilities, are:
(i)
he had no knowledge of the libel contained in the message
disseminated by him;
(ii) there was nothing in the circumstances which ought to have led him
to suppose that the message contained a libel, and
(iii) there was no negligence on his part in disseminating the libel.
129.
Here, it was not the appellants’ case that the respondents knew of
the 2008 and 2009 statements when they first appeared in the “leisure” channel.
Their focus of attack was on the elements (ii) and (iii) above. As to these, there
were concurrent findings of fact in the courts below, in favour of the
respondents, though the trial judge’s findings were somewhat sparse.
130.
As mentioned earlier, the respondents’ commercial success depends
largely upon polemics and controversy: dull and insipid threads posted in their
“leisure” channel are unlikely to attract lively participation. Commonsense
suggests that, given such a set-up, defamatory statements would be posted from
time to time. But the respondents had rules which prohibited objectionable
postings, and a subscriber who violated the rules could have his membership
suspended or cancelled.
131.
This appeal, on the facts, comes within a narrow compass. It is
confined to the 2008 and 2009 statements. Mr Thomas, for the appellants, puts
emphasis on this point: When the October 2008 words were published, the
respondents had already been sued by the appellants in relation to the
March 2007 statement, so the respondents should have been alerted to the
possibility of recurrence. These points were fully explored in the courts below.
The findings of those courts were that the elements in para (ii) and (iii) above
were satisfied. These are not findings which this Court can disturb. In so
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