Back in October I wrote a short piece about the libel case raised against Dr Simon Singh, a leading UK science journalist, by the British Chiropractic Association. He had written an article in the UK newspaper The Guardian questioning chiropractic claims to be able to treat childhood colic and asthma, and for his pains, found himself before a libel judge debating the meaning of the word "bogus".
On 14th October, he went back to court to ask for permission to appeal the ruling on the meaning of the word "bogus" in his newspaper article. The BCA alleged libel on the basis of the following two sentences:
The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organization is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.
This appeared in an Opinion article in the newspaper, but the libel judgment rests on whether it is opinion or fact. If it is judged to be a statement of fact, then this would imply that the BCA was knowingly dishonest. There is no doubt that Dr Singh was describing the sheer lack of evidence in order to embarrass the BCA into doing something about the unreasonable claims made by some of its members. Nevertheless, the initial judgment ruled it was a statement of fact.
In order to appeal, Dr Singh had to obtain permission, because you do not have any automatic right in the UK legal system, and he was turned down twice. This appearance in court was the third and final step, an oral hearing in the Court of Appeal. Remember, all of these steps cost a lot of money and the presumption is one of guilt until proved otherwise.
The request for permission to appeal was, against everyone's expectations, granted. The ruling means that Dr Singh can now present, in open court, the reasons why his article was fair comment. This will be in around six months time and will, rather ironically, coincide with Chiropractic Awareness Week.
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