What I was surprised about, but perhaps I'm a bit naive, was how many charges and convictions of slander and libel are in the news in the past month or two.
Just yesterday, Real Madrid strike Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded libel from the British paper, the Daily Telegraph. The paper published an article in 2008 alleging Ronaldo put a serious ankle injury at risk to go drinking and dancing at an L.A. nightclub. Ronaldo's lawyer said the story was fabricated - he was at the nightclub, but not dancing or drinking.
CNN reported yesterday that Amanda Know, the American student convicted of murdering her British roommate in Italy last year, is going to have to stand trial again for slander. Knox alleged that Italian police mistreated her while she was in custody. Her parents will also stand trial for repeating her allegations.
On Canadian soil, in September, a website operator, John Kelly was charged with four counts of publishing libellous statements for comments he published on his website accusing a couple Calgary police officers, who Kelly named, of perjury, corruption and obstruction of justice.
All of these examples are important reminders to us as bloggers that we need to be aware of what we are writing and be careful of defamation, something that I know never crosses my mind when I'm blogging.
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