3. The words in question are included in an article, and only some of the words in the article may amount to defamation. In such a case, how are the meanings of the words determined?

3. The words in question are included in an article, and only some of the words in the article may amount to defamation. In such a case, how are the meanings of the words determined?

If the defamatory words are included in an article, you must look at the entire article and see if the article contains defamatory meanings as a whole. You cannot come to a conclusion by simply reading one sentence or one paragraph in the article. This is because at the beginning of the article, it may say that "A is a useless jerk and an immoral person" but, at the end of the article, it may say that "in fact A is a good man, those rumors saying that A is a useless jerk are incorrect". In a case like that, you cannot simply sue the author on the basis of statements at the beginning of the article without considering the content of the rest of the article.

As already mentioned, you must look at the publication as a whole. If the meaning of the relevant words is not so clear, the court will adopt the view of the majority of people towards the article as the basis for deciding this kind of case.