Public figures must serve as a positive model to the public and their followers on social media, a court has said.

This was the crux of an observation made by a Magistrates’ Court when rejecting a defamation suit filed by TV presenter and Labour candidate Jean Claude Micallef against Manuel Delia, over comments the blogger published in the wake of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. 

Mr Micallef with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat Photo: Facebook

It had all been sparked off by a post uploaded by Mr Micallef on his Facebook page, expressing grief over the murder of the journalist and condemning the violence.

However, some two weeks later, Mr Micallef posted another comment in a contrasting vein, whereby he declared that “if you live your life denigrating others, you will end up being denigrated upon your death. You earn respect throughout your life and not after your death.”

This post had prompted Mr Delia to publish an article on his blog titled “When hypocrisy is transparent,” on November 8, 2017 – less than a month after Ms Caruana Galizia was killed.

Mr Micallef considered the article to be defamatory and instituted libel proceedings against Mr Delia.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, observed that Mr Micallef’s post had come at a time when debate was raging about the assassination, bringing to the fore divergent views about her life and writings.

“Some began to idolise her while others demonised her,” the court remarked.

Although Mr Micallef had insisted that his comment had never been intended to refer to Ms Caruana Galizia, it was clear that his words had been understood as such, even in light of the 276 Facebook followers who had ‘liked’ his declaration.

Among these, some had praised him stating, “Well done”, “spot on”, “golden words” and other favourable comments in similar vein.

There was no doubt that Mr Micallef’s statement had been perceived by his followers as having been directed towards the slain journalist. Mr Delia’s reaction had stemmed from the same perception, the court observed.

For this reason, the respondent’s writing on his blog post was to be deemed as “fair comment”, the court concluded, throwing out the defamation claims by the applicant who was also made to bear the costs of the suit.

Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona was counsel to Mr Delia.