[posted by Justin Levine]

Kirk Makin of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports:

The media should not live in constant fear of facing a libel suit every time a provocative commentary is published or broadcast, the Supreme Court of Canada said yesterday in a major ruling won by controversial Vancouver radio broadcaster Rafe Mair.

In a 9-0 decision that modernizes the defence of fair comment, the court found that Mr. Mair did not defame Christian-values advocate Kari Simpson when he denounced her stand on a book-banning controversy.

Read the whole thing here.  You should also check out the court’s full opinion here.

I’ll admit that I don’t have much respect for the rather lazy and worn out argument that tries to compare school board officials to ‘Nazis’ or ‘Klan members’ simply because they reject certain books for a school curriculum or refuse to carry them on campus.    But that doesn’t mean that one should face the threat of a lawsuit merely for engaging in cliched hyperbole.