The Legal Regulation And Exclusion Rules Of Public Defamation Under The Perspective Of Freedom Of Speech

Freedom of speech is a civil right stipulated in the constitution,and it is also considered as one of the most basic rights of an individual.On the one hand,the law should protect our right to comment freely and express our opinions freely.On the other hand,the right of reputation is also a right derived from the protected human dignity in the constitution.Defamation,the collision of these two fundamental rights,brings about the question that when one person’s freedom of speech violates another’s right of reputation,how should the law balance this contradiction.Public defamation is one special kind of defamation.Public defamation cases not only take place abroad,but also stir up a lot of controversy in China in recent years.From Fan Zhiyi case to the Wu Baoquan case,then to the cases in the past two years,public defamation are gradually coming into people’s eyes.Public comment is not only related to freedom of speech,but also one of the ways in which public power and public figures are supervised.Therefore,it is particularly important to protect the rights and interests of individuals or the media to raise their voices legally.The protection of freedom of speech has profound philosophical and jurisprudential basis.Free speech is not only conducive to the exchange of ideas and the discovery of truth,but also a necessity for human dignity and social democracy.In order to prevent the freedom of speech from being restrained by defamation litigation,some countries of common law have gradually formed some exclusionary rules of public defamation in written bills or judicial precedents,including public interest defense and honest opinion defense etc..However,in China,the high occurrence of public defamation cases is in stark contrast to the low winning rate of the defendants,which is related to the rare and scattered legal provisions.To better protect the freedom of speech,it is necessary to integrate overseas precedents,legislative experience and the status quo of China’s legislation and judicature,and bring the interest of the public,the authenticity of the content and the rationality of the comment into public defamation exclusion rules.