[cma-l] Libel insurance for radio stations

[Olly Benson]

Hi Julian,

My advice would be libel insurance is a waste of money.

The main reason is that someone suing for libel would need to consider
whether taking action against the organisation would enhance their
reputation, and how much would they be likely to receive.

Suing a small-time community radio station run on a shoestring budget would
probably do more damage than the initial accusation.  Much better that they
accept your apology (assuming you were at fault) and get a nice story about
how they were wronged but recognise that suing would be a pointless
exercise.  Additionally, were you to lose; the amount awarded would be
dependent on your ability to pay... so as soon as you take out insurance
that goes up.

I'd also argue that libel insurance almost gives the impression to
volunteers that it doesn't matter if they libel, because you are insured
against it.

It's worth noting that the six-figure sums awarded to celebrities after
litigation with the red-tops are not representative of libel generally.
Look at the teacher who sued FriendsReunited.  They got £4k, so assuming you
are not going to be sued every other year, libel insurance would not be
cost-effective.

I'd far prefer spending that money on bringing in a libel lawyer /
journalist / trainer and doing proper training with your volunteers; and
ensuring that you have good compliance systems so that you never get to the
stage of defaming someone on air.  Libel training isn't about understand the
ins-and-outs of the law: it's simply that every broadcaster can recognise
what could be potentially libellous, and then either doesn't broadcast it,
or flags it up so you as an organisation can decide whether you want to
broadcast it.  One thing I keep reinforcing where I work is that we
shouldn't be scared of publishing things that could be potentially
libellous, if we can justify it, but it needs to be agreed at an
organisational level because of the nature of the risk (erm, lets hope my
trustees are not reading this)

The claimant decides who to sue; so you can't really get out of it by
indemnifing yourself against the volunteers.

Touch wood there hasn't been a defamation case against a community radio
station; and when I was at the SRA I struggled to find any action against
student radio or newspapers.  Suing volunteers doesn't make financial sense.

More on libel at: http://www.rad10.com/news/so_sue_me/

Cheers,



Olly



On 17/08/07, Julian Mellor <julian at 10radio.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> While budgeting and gradually working towards
> launching full time onto a suspecting public next
> January, the big issue of insurance has raised
> its (ugly) head.
>
> I've seen the discussion on this list from last
> April, but was wondering if other stations also
> get cover for libel?   And/or do you get
> presenters (all of ours will be volunteers) to
> indemnify you against what they might say on air?
>
> Cost indications for PLI, ELI and property cover
> have come in at c.£1800 - which brought tears to
> my eyes.  What do others pay?
>
> Thanking you in advance
>
> Julian
>
> PS  And thanks to everyone who gave help in July
> with child protection policies.  We eventually
> managed to  craft one that fits on one page and
> it proved sufficient for a youth focused funder.
> Let me know if you want a copy.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20070818/0a281ba5/attachment.html>