From CBC web site
Global media giants fear chill from Toronto web libel suit
Last Updated Wed, 09 Mar 2005 14:37:00 EST
CBC News

TORONTO - A libel lawsuit unfolding in Toronto could restrict how news stories are published around the world, 52 large media companies argued this week.

• INDEPTH: Internet

The lawsuit involves the Washington Post's 1997 coverage of a former United Nations official who was accused of financial and sexual improprieties on the job in West Africa.

Cheickh Bangoura, a native of Ghana who later moved from Kenya to Ontario, filed legal action against the Post in 2000 seeking $9 million Cdn. in damages.

The 46-year-old man's suit said the newspaper was hurting his reputation in his new home because Ontario residents could read the stories in the Post's web-based archives.

The Post has seven paid online subscribers in the province and only one person has ever paid to see the story on the archives, the newspaper says.

Despite that, Bangoura's suit argues that material posted on a website that is viewable in Canada should be seen as having been published in Canada.

Judge rules Ontario can hear case

An Ontario judge ruled last year that the province's court system had jurisdiction to hear the case, sending shock waves through media companies around the world.

CNN, the New York Times, Google, Yahoo, the London Times, the CBC and dozens of other publishers and broadcasters are challenging the judge's decision.

They warn that freedom of expression and the public interest might suffer if people could shop for a country with favourable libel laws anywhere in the world and file suit there to avenge themselves over stories they don't like.

It is harder to win a libel case in the United States, where the Washington Post is published, because it has stronger freedom of expression protections for media companies.

If Bangoura's lawsuit is allowed to proceed, websites would be reluctant to post any controversial story for fear of being forced out of business by a large libel settlement, media lawyers said.

Arguments in the case were heard in the Ontario Court of Appeal Tuesday.

Chief Justice Roy McMurtry and two other judges hearing the challenge have reserved judgment.