Getting your own back: how far can you go in responding to a public attack?

Key Points:

Where a party's conduct or reputation is publicly attacked, the common law defence of qualified privilege allows it to respond publicly to vindicate its conduct or rehabilitate its reputation.

Reply to attack is one particular category of the common law defence of qualified privilege. It is a rare example of the law permitting defamatory statements to be made as a form of self-redress. It allows the party attacked (whether an individual or a corporation) to place its case before the body whose judgment the attacking party has sought to affect, so as to prevent the attack operating to its prejudice. Thus, if the attack is made through the press, the press may be used in answer and the response can lawfully be vigorous.