Ontario libel case watched closely
A 50-member coalition of some of the world's leading news organizations is supporting the Washington Post in a lawsuit going to trial this week involving Cheickh Bangoura, a former United Nations employee who was the subject of two stories in the newspaper in January 1997.
The stories examined allegations of sexual harassment, financial improprieties and nepotism by Bangoura while he was an officer of the U.N.'s drug control program in West Africa; shortly afterward, he was fired and eventually moved to Ontario.
The Post had tried to get the case dismissed by arguing the case had no "real or substantial connection" to Ontario, and that if Bangoura's lawsuit were allowed to proceed simply because the stories had been accessible in Ontario through the Internet, it would mean that publishers worldwide would face the prospect of being dragged into other countries' courts for libel, no matter how remote their connection to the country might be. That would encourage "forum shopping" by libel plaintiffs and have a devastating impact on freedom of expression, the newspaper argued. The judge let the trial proceed, though.
The coalition fears that if The Post loses, "The information accessible to citizens of the world would be diminished, and the value of the Internet as a global source of information substantially denied," it says in a brief.
Mar 09, 2005 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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