A shackle to freedom of expression

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE EFFECTS of the Libel and Slander Act (and the Defamation Act), as they stand, have gone beyond muzzling the population of Jamaica, they have also seriously impacted the rights of Jamaicans to freedom of expression,.

The media have been contending for some time now that the libel laws, in their current state, pose a threat to their continued existence and to their role as the watchdogs of our democracy. But is the reform of the libel laws of Jamaica a fight only to be fought by the Jamaican media? The answer to this query should be a resounding "no" as not only do individual citizens also, from time to time, find themselves named as sole defendants in libel suits when they become too meddlesome and vocal, but sometimes they may also find themselves named as joint defendants in lawsuits against the media houses which dared to give them space to vent.

What about the impact on bookstores, book vendors and newspaper vendors, all secondary, and not primary distributors? Some years ago, the story is told there was a well-researched book about Jamaican politics of a certain period. The book did not find favour with some of the prominent Jamaicans named in the book and there was at least one lawsuit. The end result was that the book was pulled from the shelves of bookstores throughout Jamaica.

Educational and riveting novels such as The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica by Ian Thomson; Judas Mentality by Gerry Grindley, and Born fi Dead: A Journey Through the Jamaican Posse Underworld by Laurie Gunst have all caused local and mostly foreign websites to be flooded with raving reviews on the nature and mesmeric descriptions of the struggles faced in Jamaica. However, these novels, though much in demand, are not sold in Jamaica because of the fear that the books may contain defamatory content which would expose distributors to large awards in damages.

The book titled The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica won the (UK-based) Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award for the period 2009-2010. In May 2010, Mr Thomson was also awarded the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. The book has been also been reviewed by the Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Times newspapers and discussed on many other social websites.

Where is the freedom?

It is not surprising that the persons who stand to raise a furore about these books being distributed in Jamaica are largely prominent members of our society. Granted there may be factual inaccuracies in any book, and I would expect the books mentioned above to be no different, it is, nevertheless, beyond my grasp why I, as Jamaican, should not be able to freely access books about Jamaica and Jamaicans which can be freely accessed elsewhere, and why a Jamaican distributor should not be able to distribute books as freely about Jamaica and Jamaicans as his non-Jamaican counterparts in other parts of the world.

We say that freedom of expression is entrenched in our Constitution by virtue of Section 22 and protection of reputation, by extension. We say that what must be created is a balance; where is the balance, however? There is no Freedom of Expression Act, but a couple of protection of reputation acts. The standard of proof in reputation cases (libel claims), as distinct from other areas of the law, is so low that it makes the possibility of success for a claimant almost a foregone conclusion.

Couple the foregoing with the disproportionate magnitude of the awards in libel claims when compared to other areas of the law and the fact that the tentacles of the protection of reputation acts extend even to a secondary or tertiary distributor, and it becomes abundantly clear that "freedom of expression" has fallen way behind in this "balancing act" we fool ourselves about.

I hope that this Christmas, all our local bookstores will be able to stock all books about Jamaica and Jamaicans, favourable and unfavourable alike, without the sword of Damocles swinging over their heads.

I am, etc.,

MARY H. REID

Kingston