THE LAW OF DEFAMATION SINGLE PUBLICATION RULE IN THE DIGITAL ERA: THE PROTECTION OF PRESS FREEDOM IN ZIMBABWE

THE PROTECTION OF PRESS FREEDOM IN ZIMBABWE

Abstract

The growth of the internet and its social media auxiliary, that entails networking
websites and applications enabling users to create and share content online, has
created global complexities in the judiciary’s adjudication of defamatory online
publications. Away from print journalism that generated hard copies in the analogue
era confined to a particular jurisdiction, internet publications defy boundaries. More
often, re-publications that occur instantaneously at the click of a button create
jurisdictional choice of law complications. Scholars have pithily argued that this has
not only disrupted the traditional media model but has devastated it. Zimbabwe’s
traditional defamation laws are yet to adjust and conform to the dictates of the digital
era. As such, this paper argues for an authoritative statutory provision or common law
position in Zimbabwe that establishes a single publication rule in defamation to
safeguard and promote press freedom. This is necessary to avoid the chilling effect of
a multiplicity of claims from the same cause of action that can administratively disrupt
the dissemination of information or even shut publications. This approach is taken
because there is not sufficient statutory clarity on the applicability of either the single
or multiple publication rule. This paper establishes that as a developing country, a
multiple publication rule will not promote Zimbabwe’s democracy through press
freedom. As such, this paper traverses the Zimbabwean legal framework on the law
of defamation, discusses various international precedents and the applicability of the
single publication rule against the multiple publication rule, and makes a case for the
former.