CJFE Executive Director Tom Henheffer said in an email interview that libel chill has intensified because "newsrooms have fewer and fewer resources, meaning they have less money for lawyers and as such are less likely to run a story if it could result in a potential lawsuit.
Libel chill affects journalists because "it makes them less likely to aggressively pursue investigative pieces that are crucial to the public interest," said Henheffer.
Journalists feel the chill in a changing media world
Further, the threat of
libel chill is greater than it might otherwise be because of the power of corporations in the twenty-first century and the demonstrated willingness of some of them to use defamation law to chill and punish critics for speech with little regard to whether the speech is actually defamatory.
Rethinking Canadian defamation law as applied to Corporate Plaintiffs
This case comment sets out the state of Canadian defamation law prior to the Supreme Court's creation of the public interest responsible communication defence and explains the Court's "
libel chill" rationale underlying its adoption of the new defence.
Canadian libel law enters the 21st century: the public interest responsible communication defence
Sullivan Reconsidered]; Michael Massing, The
Libel Chill: How Cold is it Out There?, COLUM.
Is libel law worth reforming?
Some say it was
libel chill, the fear of spending money on legal defences, which kept the lid on Mulroney.
Kanada's kickback king
The fear of such an eventuality could result in
libel chill.
Tale of two countries: libel and freedom of expression
So much so that journalists now speak of a
libel chill.
Don't wait, litigate!