THE SITUATION with the foreign pastor who is accused of child molestation, and the charge led by a particular talk-show host to ban him from participating in a religious conference is an excellent case that should be referred to by those reframing our libel laws.

While most may consider child molestation to be the worse crime, every one accused of being a child molester is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

When the libel laws are reframed, I would hope that the acts of talk-show hosts, like this particular one, will be treated as criminal acts. Here we have a person who calls herself a talk-show host doing everything possible to destroy this pastor who is accused of a crime. This host has taken it upon herself to try and convict this pastor. Clearly, her disdain for the rule of law cannot be made any clearer.

Libel sanction on media

Only the court should determine the guilt or innocence of this pastor and no one else. The new libel laws should treat acts like those of this talk-show host as attempts to obstruct the course of justice. Her actions, no doubt, will make it harder for this pastor to get a fair trial. Her access to a public microphone has done much to convince many potential jurors that this pastor is already guilty.

I also want to see the new libel laws sanction, very severely, media entities that facilitate talk-show hosts like these. These media entities must be seen under the new libel laws as aiding and abetting a crime and be punished as such, once convicted, of course.

I am, etc.,

Michael A. Dingwall