When Celebrity Journalists Take It Too Far
Writing about celebrities does not come without its challenges. Whether that is a slow news day, unconfirmed sources or getting the scoop before your competitors, celebrity journalists may have a hard time finding the line between the truth, and a bent version of the truth.
“Half a truth is often a great lie.” — Benjamin Franklin
The moral implications of posting “half a truth” is for another blog post. In this one, I want to explore with you some cases celebrities have taken up with publications.
As I’ve already discussed in previous posts, defamations suits are famously hard to win. Only 6% of all defamation cases in the UK were brought by celebrities; compare this to ten years ago when celebrities made up 32% of defamation cases.
Why has their been such a decline in the number of defamation suits brought by celebrities?
Well, most people think this down to do the defamation laws have changed. When before, lawyers had to argue there was a “substantial” claim, now there has to be “serious harm”.
Even before this new distinction was made in the Defamation Act 2013, it was notoriously hard to win these type of cases. This could be costly and the benefits from winning a defamation case may not be worth it for the ‘victim’.
Bearing all that in mind, let’s take a look at my top 5 defamation suits: the who, what and why:
- Kiera Knightley
Although this list is in no particular order, this example of a defamation case is my favourite. In 2007, Keira Knightley sued The Daily Mail for publishing an article which debated whether she had an eating disorder (specifically focusing on anorexia).
She successfully won against The Daily Mail for this slander in a settlement of £3,000.
It doesn’t end there.
Not only did she give all the money to eating disorder charity Beat but she also matched the amount- bring the total up to £6,000. THAT’S how you win a case!
2. ‘Brangelina’
Four years before their actual split, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attempted to sue the News of the World newspaper for their article claiming Pitt and Jolie were divorcing and splitting their fortune (£205 million).
This previous power couple claimed that even if the information was true, which it wasn’t, it was a breach of privacy to spread this information.
Settled out of court, the couple agreed to an undisclosed amount of money.
3. Kate Winslet
The first of our Kates. Winslet sued The Daily Mail (see a pattern occurring here?) over an article which claimed the Winslet was lying about her work-out routine.
The paper issued an apology over this claim, and also agreed to pay any damages done to Winslet’s reputation from this slander.
4. Katie Holmes
Holmes originally was suing $50 million in damages against Star magazine in 2011, over a headline which claimed she was a drug addict.
The headline read, “Addiction Nightmare. Katie Drug Shocker!”. While the magazine claimed that the article did not intend to suggest to her being a drug addict or insinuate that she was receiving “counselling sessions” from the Scientology church (you know, the church her husband, Tom Cruise, belongs to).
Nevertheless, the headline alone was enough to make the magazine settle the suit (rather than take it court). An undisclosed amount was given from Star to a charity of Holme’s choice. Boss!
5. Russel Brand
A controversial figure himself, Brand has been to court a few times before. Brand sued The Sun because of a story that was published that insinuated that he was cheating on his girlfriend at the time.
The Sun apologised over the ‘falsely accused’ comments and agreed to pay Brand a disclosed amount (does anyone reveal what they got?!). However, The Guardian speculated that it was “at least five figures”.
There’s my top 5.
All for different reasons but all had legitimate cause for bringing their suits to the court. There are, in fact, repercussions for those journalists who take it too far and bend the truth for the sake of a good story.
Let that be a warning to all aspiring journalists- always find the balance between the truth and defamation!
Until next time,
Rachel
