Gov’t says no plans to criminalise defamation

The Government is not considering reintroducing criminal sanctions for defamation despite calls by Senator Marlon Morgan for the Holness administration to do so.

“This is not a government position,” Information Minister Senator Dana Morris Dixon told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

She, however, noted that the issue of misinformation and disinformation is an area of concern for the administration.

“As a Government, as a Cabinet, the prime minister has said that this issue of misinformation and disinformation has exploded in Jamaica, and we need to look at ways that we can solve it, but the Cabinet has made no decision in relation to criminalising anything,” she said.

Defamation occurs when untrue information that lowers a person or business in the estimation of right-thinking members of society or exposes them to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or avoidance is published to a third party.

Morris Dixon pointed to recent studies conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which highlighted the global threat that the spread of false and misleading information poses to democracy.

The OECD found that while such content is not necessarily illegal, it can contribute to polarisation, jeopardise the implementation of policies, and undermine trust in democratic institutions and processes.

And it further noted that action is required to strengthen the integrity of information spaces to protect freedom of expression and democratic engagement.

Morris Dixon said the Government has been focusing on public education to improve media literacy and ensure the verification and sharing of accurate information.

“What we are doing as Government, articulated policy, is teaching our public about how to discern what is truth, in terms of information, and where there are issues, we try to as quickly as possible to put out the correct information,” she said.

“Some people may say that that is not enough, and that’s an ongoing conversation across many democracies,” she added.

Making his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Upper House last Friday, Morgan, the parliamentary secretary in the information ministry, criticised the Opposition and those he referred to as their surrogates and supporters on social media, blasting them for tarnishing people’s reputations.

He warned that the misinformation and disinformation being peddled by these persons serve to undermine the country’s democracy.

“They have the effect of eroding public trust, distorting truth and facts, presenting false narratives, and besmirching people’s good name and reputation,” he declared.

“Jamaica is in urgent need of criminal sanction for defamation,” he said.

The Government abolished criminal defamation in November 2013, with the approval of the Defamation Act 2013, after strong lobbying from the media and other interest groups.

Meanwhile, attorney-at-law Linton Gordon said he was alarmed by Morgan’s suggestion.

“I sincerely hope that it is some slip-up on the part of the honorable senator because it is difficult to imagine anybody encouraging us to go back to a path that we have stepped from, having accepted that the question of defamation is in no way similar to a criminal act,” he told The Gleaner.

He said Morgan has “taken it upon his head” to protect the Government from negative comments but asserts that criminalising adverse comments is “not part of the democratic tradition”.

“The basic principle of a criminal act is that someone is injured, something is stolen, some item is damaged, or there is some infliction of a physical loss. Defamation has to do with a detraction from a person’s character. That is strictly and solely a civil matter. There is nothing criminal about that,” he said.

“I really think that if the senator were to concentrate his efforts and his intellectual capacity on other matters, he probably would come across as more useful and effective than going down a stream that is of no use to anyone,” he added.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com