Reputation, Celebrity and Defamation Law

Taking Robert Post's seminal article 'The Social Foundations of Reputation and the Constitution' as a starting point, this volume examines how the concept of reputation changes to reflect social, political, economic, cultural and technological developments. It suggests that the value of a good reputation is not immutable and analyzes the history and doctrines of defamation law in the US and the UK. A selection of Australian case studies illustrates different concepts of defamation law and offers insights into their specific nature. Drawing on approaches to celebrity in media and cultural studies, the author conceptualizes reputation as a media construct and explains how reputation as celebrity is of great contemporary relevance at this point in the history of defamation law.

Contents: Introduction; Part I: Post on reputation; The historical foundations of the concept of reputation; The basic principles of liability for defamation: meaning, publication, identification and damages. Part II: Reputation as property; Reputation as honour: part I; Reputation as honour: part II; Reputation as dignity. Part III: Reputation as celebrity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.