Reputation, Celebrity and Defamation Law

Taking Robert Post’s seminal article ‘The Social Foundations of Reputation and the Constitution’ as a starting point, this volume examines how the concept of reputation changes to reflect social, political, economic, cultural and technological developments. It suggests that the value of a good reputation is not immutable and analyzes the history and doctrines of defamation law in the US and the UK. A selection of Australian case studies illustrates different concepts of defamation law and offers insights into their specific nature. Drawing on approaches to celebrity in media and cultural studies, the author conceptualizes reputation as a media construct and explains how reputation as celebrity is of great contemporary relevance at this point in the history of defamation law.

Author Biography

Dr David Rolph is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, specialising in torts, media law and intellectual property. He has published extensively in these areas in refereed journals. His principal area of research interest is defamation law.