31 Jul 2018
DURIE & ANOR v GARDINER & ANOR [2018] NZCA 278
- Citation
- (2018) 14 TCLR 809
- Court
- Court of Appeal
The Court recognised a new common law defence of responsible communication on matters of public interest available to any publisher where (1) the subject matter is of public interest and (2) the communication was responsible; the judge determines both elements; Lange's political qualified privilege is subsumed into this defence; reportage is not a separate defence in the majority view but may form part of the spectrum; on the facts references to 'qualified privilege', 'Lange v Atkinson' and 'reportage' were struck from the pleaded defence and the public interest defence in relation to the fir…