Jul 22
Dave Walker: Empty threats and fear of libel
Dave Walker has been threatened. The person doing the threatening is Mark Brewer. The basis for the threat is Dave’s “people’s journalism” exposing and highlighting the awful saga of SSG/SPCK and the slow destruction of a much respected chain of booksellers. The threat, of a libel action, appears to be an empty threat. Unfortunately, having large sums of money can turn empty threats into very real and dangerous ones for those without money.
Dave has been very careful about what he has said and what comments have been allowed on his blog. He has tried not to say things he can’t verify, or repeat things from sources he did not know and trust. It seems the purpose of the libel threat is the removal of the best published record of a long saga of multiply-attested claims of mismanagement. Mark Brewer’s claim of libel, however, would appear to be without merit. Everything Dave has posted has either been factual, or material he has had reasonable grounds to believe to be true.
It is unfortunate that the libel laws are such that those with money can seek to, and sometimes succeed in suppressing the truth. It has happened before, and Robert Maxwell is the most notorious example of someone using libel as an instrument of intimidation, to secure the silence of those who knew how corrupt he was. Sometimes it backfires, as with Jonathan Aitken’s trusty sword of truth, or delightfully, as when Mr Justice Popplewell found that calling former MP and author Rupert Allason “a conniving little shit” was not libellous.
We can but hope.
(For additional comment see the Wardman Wire.)
Update 21:50: Dave now seems to have removed his notice of this. I hope he has not been further threatened.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
[...] old posts off the Internet caches and republish them on our own sites. I tend to agree with Doug and Peter that Dave doesn’t need to be intimidated in this situation but I can certainly respect [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
The really good news is that although David has been forced, by the threat of legal action and its cost, to remove what he wrote, Google have kept a record of all his links and so people are able to make up their own minds - and Google are not going to be too concerned by a threat of legal action from Mark Brewer see links here:
http://theconnexion.net/wp/?p=3815
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
This one might be part of the reason for the seemingly sudden ceases and desist orders.
http://asingleblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/brewers-are-challenged-in-court/
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 am
This link to another spck blogger might reveal something new and interesting:
http://asingleblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/brewers-are-challenged-in-court/
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
It appears that Dave is not the only one who has been threatened - but we will see. The court case concerning what is mentioned on asingleblog was yesterday so I am waiting for news.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
It’s a shame that a company which has the money to mount a legal fight against a cartoonist does not feel able to invest any of that same money into the revival of its bookshops.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
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July 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
[...] Dave Walker: Empty threats and fear of libel Dave Walker has been threatened. The person doing the threatening is Mark Brewer. The basis for the threat is Dave’s “people’s journalism” exposing and highlighting the awful saga of SSG/SPCK and the slow destruction of a much respected … [...]
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August 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
[...] have become a little obsessed with the SPCK fiasco that has been trickling through blog-world. To some this is a prime example of someone using their power and money to make empty threats to [...]