Defamation via Satellite: A European Perspective

Satellites enable European broadcasters to televise programmes to vast transnational audiences. This activity is supported by a regime of freedom of transborder broadcasting under EC law, European human rights law and other areas of public international law. The programme contents of broadcasts will on occasion give rise to claims of injury to private law interests, including the interest in reputation. The defamation laws of Europe’s nations are however by no means uniform: the same transmission may give rise to liability under one national system but to no liability under another. The material outcome of a given claim will thus rest on the existing regime of private international law applied by Europe’s national courts, including rules governing forum, choice of law and foreign judgments. It is against the above background of private international law that this text examines Europe’s prospects of realizing the public international law regime of free transborder broadcasting.