TORONTO - Ontario's appeal court ruled against the Ottawa Citizen on Tuesday over a case in which a former provincial police officer accused the newspaper of defamation.
Danno Cusson, an Ontario provincial police constable, went to New York City of his own accord to participate in the rescue effort after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and was portrayed by media as a hero.
The Ottawa Citizen published three articles suggesting Cusson misrepresented himself as an RCMP officer who was formally trained in K-9 search and rescue techniques.
The Ontario Provincial Police ordered Cusson, who later resigned, to return to his duties in Ottawa.
Cusson sued the Citizen over the three articles on the grounds they were defamatory. The claim on one article was dismissed, but the paper was ordered to pay Cusson $100,000 over the other two.
During the original trial, the Citizen lawyers argued the claim should be dismissed because the publication of the articles fell under qualified privilege.
That defence requires malice to be proven.
The judge ruled the third article was protected by qualified privilege, but the other two were not, because there was no "compelling moral or social duty" to publish them.
On appeal the Citizen lawyers argued they should be protected under a defence of responsible journalism, which provides for due diligence in ensuring a story is fair and accurate.
But while the appeal judges ruled that defence should be recognized as part of Ontario law, it's not available to the Ottawa Citizen in this case, because it is not the defence they argued at the original trial.
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