82.
I have no evidence as to any due diligence undertaken before the articles complained of were published. The defence is pleaded by reference to the reasonableness of reliance on the assemblage of matters I have considered in relation to the truth defence above, which, for the reasons I have given, are not reasonably recognisable as an exercise in considered research and verification. Dr Garrett was not approached to give his side of the story. One of the articles complained of (publication 14 and 15) reproduced a paragraph from a letter Dr Garrett had written on 5th August 2023, stating that ‘As I have previously informed you via email, I am not responsible for the elusive_woman IRC account or any of the other accounts you have incorrectly asserted I am linked to. I have provided evidence that I am not that person’ – namely that one of the postings from the account mentioned was made at a time he was teaching a class. The letter had gone on to challenge Dr Schestowitz for appearing to accept that others might have been involved in the trolling, but that part of the letter was not reproduced. Beneath the (cropped) picture of the letter was commentary beginning ‘Oh, wow! How will I know if you are lying again?’ and continuing with invective and multiple accusations against him. This has little claim to being in the nature of affording a fair right of reply.