Libel morals

Here’s a libel roundup of recent cases.

• The BBC is paying the Muslim Council of Britain’s head for comments made by Charles Moore on BBC1’s Question Time.

• Michael Owen gets damages and costs from The Daily Express for saying is career as a footballer is over.

• The British Chiropractice Association got £100,000 from Dr Simon Singh for saying it “happily promoted” “bogus” claims by chiropractitioners. He is appealing.

• Michael Parkinson is threatening to sue a local paper for comments made about his dead dad by a cousin.

The morals of these sad tales are:

• Don’t mess with touchy organisations; and

• Don’t mess with fading football stars.

What a pity that these sensitive people can’t use the media to defend themselves. Or, in the case of Owen, the football field.

Moore’s case is the most worrying. The BBC did not consult Moore about making the payments to the head of the Council, as he explains in The Spectator. He could sue the BBC for libel as it is, by implications, saying that he got it wrong.

He already refuses to pay his TV licence fee as long as Jonathan Ross is employed by the Beeb.