A daily newspaper published an article in which it reported about an ongoing criminal investigation, but later the suspect was acquitted of all charges.
The Court rejected the claim against the newspaper for publishing defamation as the publication was true and served a public interest. Publishing something that may, Inter alia, humiliate a person in the eyes of others or demean the person due to acts, behavior or traits attributed to him or which may damage its business or profession, may be deemed defamation. The publisher may have a good defense if the publication was true and there was a public interest in the publication. Here, an informative article was published regarding criminal suspicions that were at the time under ongoing investigation by the police. There was a public interest in the report and it was stated that these were suspicions and the article did not state as a fact that the acts were indeed committed by the suspect. Therefore, even though the suspect was eventually acquitted, the report was correct at the time it was covered and therefore it’s protected under Israeli law.