The advent of social media and the rise of blogs in the last few years has brought about great fortune in terms of financial success and economic growth. With the likes of Linda Ikeji and others like her in the business, rising to meteoric fame and success.
However this is just one side of the story – the glamorous side. The not too rosy part of this story is the incessant and most often deliberate publication of half truths, sometimes blatantly false stories either out of sheer negligence, in a bid to generate traffic to their blogs and instagram page or other times for paid gain to the detriment of the individuals in these stories.
This particular trend is one that has grown tremendously at an increasingly alarming rate over the last few years. It is argued in some quarters that Blogs and instagram gossip pages are not professional journalistic outlets and that would probably explain why they are held to a different standard or none at all with regards to their publications and ethics.
Section 39 (1) of the 1999 Constitution states that every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, to hold opinions, to receive; impart information without interference. This provision is however subject to the law of defamation.
The import of this is that while individuals have a right to express themselves freely via their various social media pages, this right is limited by defamation because with every right comes an underlining responsibility.
In the news recently was the arrest of popular instagram sex therapist; Hauwa Muhammed popularly known as Jaruma. Her arrest has been linked to billionaire business man, Ned Nwoko.
Apparently Mr. Nwoko accused Jaruma of publishing falsehoods against him and his wife Regina on her Instagram page.
Only a few weeks ago, Actress and Talk show host – Nancy Isime was in the news as one of these blogs claimed that she was involved with a married man and the said man was responsible for bankrolling her vacation trips, cars and general lifestyle. The actress came out instantly to vehemently deny the allegation.
Few days ago it was the turn of Ex Big Brother Housemate – Alex Unusual, similar accusations and also too, Alex quickly denied the accusations while taking out a bit of time to roll out curses for those responsible.
The list goes on and on.
Defamation is defined as the act of damaging the good reputation of someone via publication of words that can cause hatred, contempt, ridicule, or damage to the reputation or profession of a person to a third party without justification. Generally, defamation is in two forms:
Slander – This is usually in oral form.
Libel – This is usually in written form.
Defamation can be deemed either criminal or civil wrongdoing.
Section 375 of the Criminal Code states that “any person who publishes any defamatory matter is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for one year. Anybody who knowing it to be false is liable to imprisonment for two years.”
The law provides that – a) Truth b) Consent c) Privilege d) Fair comment, are all legal defences for defamation.
Summarily what this entails is that, when a publication is found to be the truth, when the publication had the prior consent of the subject, where it was made in the course of legislative or judicial proceedings and then when the publication itself was a fair and clear expression of a personal opinion then the court can hold that the subject of the said publication was not defamed.
Considering the times we are in currently, there is a need for proper enlightenment and understanding of the position of the law on seemingly innocuous matters like this and the possible ramifications. Blogs, Instagram pages and publishers all round need to understand the place and importance of due diligence before publication. In the pursuit for big news and sensationalism, the call for caution cannot be over emphasized, for most often than not, this usually involves the lives of other people, their families, friends, businesses and the likes.
Important to note that, in addition to the moral obligation and duty of care, there is also the issue of legal implications and possible jail term for defamatory publication.
