defamation
Can I include messenger messages between myself and organizations volunteers/employees in my book, even if it may come across negative, but factual!
<p>I want to write a book about the struggles of being a parent of a child who has severe anaphylaxis allergies to nuts. Over the years, I have experienced struggles with certain organizations or public establishments. Some places comply and have plans in place regarding allergies and children, some I have educated and inspired to add and include addendums and rules, and some have made us feel excluded and discrimanted against.</p>

<p>I have messages from individuals associated with certain organizations that defend non compliance, even though a child's life is at risk, and refer to outdated guidelines, that do not even cover every aspect of the organizations activities. I want to share the array of reactions that parents may face.  How can I do that without possible defamation?</p>

<h2>Defamation is unlikely to be an issue</h2>
<p>If they wrote it it’s true and truth is a defense to defamation.</p>
<p>However, if you selectively quote out of context to portray the person in a harsh light, that can be defamation. For a contrived example, quoting only “The policies of the Nazis were just” and leaving off “... a symptom of the abhorrent people in that organization” is clearly defamatory.</p>
<p>Similarly, attributing motives to the author beyond what the plain text says can also be defamation.</p>
<h2>However, ...</h2>
<p>There are still a number of other issues:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Copyright</strong> - you don’t own this so, <em>prima facie</em> you cant reproduce it unless if falls within a fair use/dealing. Given your usage this is certainly arguable but not certain.</li>
<li><strong>Expectation of privacy</strong> - depending on the nature of the correspondence the person who sent it may have a reasonable expectation of privacy. While this is unlikely to apply to official correspondence of an organization, it may apply if the correspondence is more personal or intimate.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why identify people or organizations?</h2>
<p>If your purpose is, as you say, to highlight <em>your</em> experience, why do you need to identify specific people or organizations? Anonymous or broad examples (“an airline replied” etc.) would be just as illuminating.</p>
<h2>Do your research</h2>
<p>You use the expression “non-compliance”. Be precise with what is not being complied with, whether compliance is mandatory or voluntary and what exemptions exist. Usually, compliance requires “reasonable efforts” or similar - trivially is is not reasonable to exclude nuts from a peanut butter factory.</p>
