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Dear Friends

Thank you once again for showing your support for the Libel Reform Campaign. So many people came together to demand a change in the law that politicians were forced to deliver the Defamation Act 2013. As you know, the new law introduced some significant changes, and should expand the space for free expression in England & Wales.

As you will also be aware, very few of the new provisions have been extended to Scotland, and none to Northern Ireland.  This has left British citizens in those nations with fewer free speech protections than their neighbours in England & Wales. Worse, since most publishers operate throughout the UK, the jurisdictions with unreformed law could to chill free speech everywhere in the United Kingdom, and the Defamation Act 2013 could be undermined.

We urgently need to discuss how the libel law in Scotland should be reformed, and to gather examples of the libel 'chill' where journalists in Scotland have been discouraged from publishing on matters in the public interest. On Thursday 17th July at 5pm at the Saltire Society in Edinburgh, we’ll be bringing together lawyers, journalists, bloggers, academics, authors and members of civil society who have views on this issue. Can you join us to help start this discussion? 

The Saltire Society is at 9 Fountain Close, 22 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TF. Please RVSP using our online form, and urge your friends and colleagues who feel strongly about this issue to attend too: http://goo.gl/AMjLdG


Best wishes

Robert Sharp

 
English PEN

Libel Reform Campaign


Information: www.libelreform.org

To donate: www.justgiving.com/LibelReformCampaign2014
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