Fergus Cassidy

Heard back today from the London insurance company about their libel cover. They also sent me a copy of the Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance policy. Seems to cover all the bases and they do cover Ireland.

Alas, you have to be an NUJ member.

In a previous post, I mentioned that more and more publications are now requiring freelancers to indemnify against libel/slander/defamation as a condition of accepting the story.

Damien wonders:

‘I would have thought the publications as the ones publishing were the ones liable, contract or no’.

Under current legislation they are liable along with the printers and distributors. And of course, the writer. There will be changes (defences eg privilege, innocent publication) when the new Defamation Bill is passed.

By getting freelancers to sign an indemnity, the publication is acknowledging that if the writer is sued personally, they’ll be paying their own legal costs. Most staffers will have these paid by the publication.

The other point worth mentioning is that small publishing companies (magazines in particular) can cut costs by getting freelance writers to pay for legal opinion themselves. If you’re writing about something controversial, you’re going to make sure you’ve had it checked by a libel expert.

Damien also asks:

‘What’s the point in writing for the big orgs if they are not going to protect you?’

The big ones might back the freelancer up alright if there’s trouble brewing. Makes them look bad otherwise. But with the way cuts are being implemented throughout the industry, I wouldn’t be surprised if that situation changes.

Obviously, freelancers need to earn a living and competition is fierce. Publishers take good advantage of this. Starting off as a freelance is very difficult and some are prepared to do whatever it takes to get a byline. That includes writing for peanuts and/or for free.

What’s alarming for me, is that faced with these indemnity contracts, the risk becomes too high for freelancers to consider writing stories with even a whiff of controversy. And who could blame them?

It doesn’t bode well for journalism and underpins why the interweb is so important.

This entry was posted on Friday, 12 January 2007 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.