Small claims court advice

Jojogogoxx_

Hi I am new here, I wonder if I could take a local newspaper and a reporter to a small claims court. I reached out to my local newspaper with a story regarding my local council regarding how long I have been waiting for repairs on my garden fence which my local council contractors damaged in first place. The reporter in question totally lied in the report and MINIPULATED the story saying my dogs where unruly and had bitten a child through my fence which is a outright lie I had wrote in the email that my dog had been bitten by another dog passing by through the fence and I understood it was an accident. I also stated I was worried that my dogs where disturbing the neighbours as they barked at people passing by the fence on bikes. He wrote I have had numerous arguments with the neighbours. This is a lie I said all my neighbours are lovely but I worry I disturb them. I told him that I had to give up work due to being very ill with tumour on sacrum and degenerative disc disorder and I suffer from depression and anxiety and ptsd and I had encephalitis and menengitis which I nearly died from. He printed I left my job due to anxiety which was not the case. The headline basically woman unruly dogs terrorising neighbours wants to raid public purse demands new garden fence. This is not the case. I live on a corner plot of a busy main Rd and public foot path and 2 panels blew down in the 2022 storm. In Jan the council came and pulled the whole lot down when it shouldn't have been pulled down they agreed to replace it but are dragging heels I have been having lots and lots of issues with intruders. I thought going to the papers may help as I have been in contact with council over 30 times and keep getting fobbed of and dismissed you wouldn't belive half the stuff that's happened. The amount of abuse and nastiness I have been receiving because of this article is absolutely awful it has had me in floods of tears made me out to be a sponger freeloader. I have worked all my life and paid into the system I am 57 I fell ill 2 years ago. Comments like kill the dogs my dogs would not hurt a fly they are sweet gentle loving little things who love everyone and adore children if my dog had bit a child I would not have it and do the right thing. Because of this article and all the hate I have not been able to sleep my anxiety went through the roof. On Sunday morning I was out in garden all of a sudden I got this burning sensation in side of left breast just slightly under my arm pit before I knew it it felt like I was being stabbed with a red hot poker. This Continued throughout the day. Eventually I ended up calling 111 around 8pm the paramedics came and ran some tests on me my heart and stats seemed fine they stayed with me for 2 hrs and witnessed these attacks. At 3.30 am another Dr called me to check up on me he wanted me to go into hospital but I said I would go to see my gp in morning as the ecg said my heart was OK following day I had an emergency appointment with my Dr who diagnosed
costochondritis I told her about the article and showed her she said it can be stress related this pain is similar to heart attack pain it's an inflammation of breast and ribbone and is extremely painful and will subside on its own eventually. It's absolutely terrifying belive. I have reached out to the reporter and told him to retract his lies and I want a public apology also his editor who responded and said in shorthand your complaint and he will investigate this was on sat before the attack. I reached out again to the editor again today with an update of what has happened over the weekend. As an editor he also should be held responsible for the contents of what is printed in his newspapers that it is the truth and not lies. As the area I live in is not great. Plus there is some right nasty people out there all it takes is for someone to throw something in the garden to hurt my dogs as they literally printed my name and address picture of my house and garden very easy to find. Can I take this newspaper and reporter to small claims. court for printing lies and causing me pain and distress and targeting of online bullies through his lies I have a copy of the actual email sent to him. 

HillStreetBlues

Could you edit your post and use paragraphs? as your post is hard to read.

Alderbank

Agree with above.

Go back and re-read the article about you in the local paper. See how it is separated into paragraphs and written in short, punchy sentences so that it attracts the reader and is easy to read? Copy that style.

You ask if you can bring an action for libel or defamation in the small claims court. No, you can't. You have to instruct a barrister to bring those actions in the High Court. Only the likes of Prince Harry or Elton John have the money to do that.

You remind me of Harry and Megan in that you 'reached out' to the press to print a story about you and are now complaining that they have done just that and invaded your privacy.

It might seem hard but the more fuss you make, the more this story will stay in the public eye. Do the opposite of what you are tempted to do and keep a low profile for a few days. Next week there will be other people in the paper and your story will be forgotten.
There is a saying that today's headline news is tomorrow's fish and chip wrapper.

Undervalued

Alderbank said:

Agree with above.

Go back and re-read the article about you in the local paper. See how it is separated into paragraphs and written in short, punchy sentences so that it attracts the reader and is easy to read? Copy that style.

You ask if you can bring an action for libel or defamation in the small claims court. No, you can't. You have to instruct a barrister to bring those actions in the High Court. Only the likes of Prince Harry or Elton John have the money to do that.

You remind me of Harry and Megan in that you 'reached out' to the press to print a story about you and are now complaining that they have done just that and invaded your privacy.

It might seem hard but the more fuss you make, the more this story will stay in the public eye. Do the opposite of what you are tempted to do and keep a low profile for a few days. Next week there will be other people in the paper and your story will be forgotten.
There is a saying that today's headline news is tomorrow's fish and chip wrapper.

You can however bring a claim for "negligent misstatement" in the County (small claims) court but it is unusual and probably very difficult to do without legal representation. 

Otherwise I totally agree.

DullGreyGuy

Generally not, libel is heard in the High Court not the Small Track of the County Court. In most cases it is also heard in front of jury and so is a more formal process.

Given the potential costs involve, especially if you were to lose, it would be highly advisable to seek professional legal advice from a solicitor that specialises in defamation.

Did your email to the newspaper have a similar absence of punctuation and paragraphs? It makes it very hard to read and could in part be a cause of the problem. 

Jojogogoxx_

Sorry about the punctuation, I am recovering from encephalitis and menegitis. I have had to learn to read and write again so please forgive me.