The case confirms that where a newspaper article has an overarching theme of corruption and dishonesty, the ordinary reasonable reader will not segregate different aspects of the plaintiff's conduct but will read the article as a whole, with the theme colouring the reader's understanding of all matters reported. A reader may permissibly draw an inference from an implication (as distinct from an impermissible inference upon an inference). Basten JA's observations suggest that the ordinary reasonable reader should be credited with general knowledge of immigration law and social security systems when assessing imputations arising from publications on those topics.
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