The Supreme Court of Canada offered journalists and bloggers a new defense against libel December 22nd in a pair of rulings that were hailed as a landmark victory for free speech. The rulings effectively exonerated the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen newspapers and created the new "responsible journalism" defense that will give reporters more leeway to pursue controversial stories as long as they are deemed to be in the public interest. Ottawa lawyer Richard Dearden said the ruling was important to bring Canadian libel laws up to speed with the current realities of journalism. (The decision cleared the way for a new libel defense which allows for errors as long as journalists act responsibly while pursuing a story in the public interest.)

Date: 2009-12-22
Placeline: OTTAWA, Ontario.
Source: The Canadian Press
Length: 8 seconds

Transcript Prediction: << heather blue the clamps not been established we have been in the Dark Ages so that that's why it's so critical that we're in the 21st century now >>

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