Court dismisses libel case, underlines importance of laws protecting journalists

In a judgment handed down this morning, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale has underlined the importance of laws protecting journalists in the course of their duties, describing their role of as that of a “public watchdog that brings issues of public interest to the attention of the reader”.

The Magistrate made the statement in his judgement on a libel case instituted by MEPA Board Secretary Sylvana Debono against Alexander Farrugia, editor of GWU newspaper it-Torċa.

Debono alleged that an article in it-Torċa made reference to an allegation that MEPA employee Sylvana Debono was working with the PN to grant favours to property developers.

Debono was offended by the allegations and sued Farrugia, the editor of the paper, for defamatory libel.

The magistrate held that Camilleri wrote of his perceptions and the perceptions upon which the article was written were fair comment. The fact that Debono chose not to rebut the allegations leads one to conclude that the allegations were admitted and therefore subject to comment.

The court said that there was no doubt in its mind that the facts comment on, which dealt with the protection of the environment and MEPA reform, were were matters of public interest.

“Having closely read the article by which the plaintiff felt herself defamed,” the sentence read, “the court notes that the words were not intended to harm her reputation and were therefore not libellous.”