Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd as trustee for the Polaris Media Trust trading as the Australian Jewish News & Anor

The Full Federal Court of Australia heard an appeal in *Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd as trustee for the Polaris Media Trust trading as the Australian Jewish News & Anor*. The appeal concerned a defamation claim brought by the applicant, Mr. Feldman, against the respondents, Polaris Media Pty Ltd (trading as the Australian Jewish News) and its editor, Mr. David Harris. Mr. Feldman alleged that an article published by the Australian Jewish News defamed him.

The primary legal issues before the Full Federal Court were whether the primary judge had erred in finding that the respondents had established the defence of contextual truth, and whether the primary judge had erred in finding that the article did not bear a defamatory meaning. Specifically, the court considered whether the primary judge had correctly applied the principles relating to the defence of contextual truth, which requires that the imputations substantially true must be of such a nature as to vitiate the sense of the defamatory imputations sued upon. The court also examined the proper approach to determining whether a publication bears a defamatory meaning, considering the ordinary reasonable reader and the potential for the publication to convey a defamatory imputation.

Nettle and Edelman JJ found that the primary judge had erred in her findings on both the defence of contextual truth and the defamatory meaning of the article. Their Honours held that the primary judge had misapplied the defence of contextual truth by failing to properly consider the imputations that were not established as true. Furthermore, the Full Court determined that the primary judge had erred in her assessment of the ordinary reasonable reader's understanding of the article, concluding that the article did, in fact, bear a defamatory meaning.

Consequently, the Full Federal Court allowed the appeal, set aside the orders of the primary judge, and remitted the matter to the Federal Court for redetermination of the question of liability and damages.