In defamation cases, the plaintiff must prove the statements are defamatory, refer to them, and were published; context is crucial in determining defamation.

Preliminary

[1] "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed". This is a quote from Mark Twain. An apt description of the nature of newspapers. Back then, perhaps. In this day and age, how do newspapers fare? It is an unavoidable fact that newspapers still play an important role in society. No matter whether they are printed on paper or digitally, newspapers remain the most important source of news. However, accurate reporting is essential. Otherwise, they open themselves up to all sorts of defamation claims Whether they will be liable or not will be determined by the Courts. This civil action is one such claim.

An Overview Of The Facts Of The Case

[2] The following are some background facts about the case.

[3] The plaintiff is a well-known public figure in the Malaysian entertainment industry and business community. He is also known as Jason Lo, Lo or J Lo.

[4] Besides being Tune Talk Sdn Bhd's director and former chief executive officer ("CEO"), the plaintiff is the CEO of his own record label and event promotion company, Fat Boys Records Sdn Bhd Aside from this, he also serves as the vice president of the Malaysian Paralympic Council. As it turns out, the plaintiff was also a radio host for Hitz.fm and a former television talk show host for Latte@8 on 8TV. In addition to being a musician, he was the first Southeast Asian singer to reach the top three in the Pepsi Top 20 International Chart. Two of the plaintiff's songs also reached number one on the Malaysian Top 10 in 1999: Evening News and So Julie.

[5] They are indeed remarkable achievements.

[6] The defendant, on the other hand, is the Malaysian National News Agency, a statutory body established under the Bernama Act 1967 with the following objectives:

(a) to seek for and present complete, objective and impartial news or news material on any matter of public and national interests within and outside Malaysia;

(b) to distribute such news or news material to subscribers on payment either in the form of fees or news exchange or both; and

(c) to report truthfully and fairly, without prejudice to public and national interests, the views of all sections of the population of Malaysia.

[7] The defendant is also the owner, host, administrator and editor of a website called www.bernama.com which is publicly accessible via the Internet and provides information and news content, including news about politics, media business, entertainment, living, health, style, world news and comedy, in whole or in part. In essence, the defendant is an autonomous news agency under the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia Malaysia.

The Testimony Of The Witnesses

[8] As part of his pleaded claim, the plaintiff seeks damages for libel against the defendant regarding words contained in the two (2) impugned articles which the plaintiff claims were defamatory of him and which severely affected his character, credit and reputation.

[9] According to the plaintiff's testimony during the trial, the headline of the first impugned article dated 18 November 2019 titled "Jason Lo charged with trespassing, injecting drug into body" implies that the plaintiff had trespassed into a house to inject drugs into himself. Furthermore, the plaintiff asserts that the first paragraph of the first impugned article strengthens the headline by specifically stating that the plaintiff was charged "... with trespassing into a house and injecting a drug into his body". The first impugned article then proceeded to mention that "The prosecution was conducted under s 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952