The UK Ministry of Justice's review of the country's libel law has not come fast enough for the Times, which yesterday was found guilty of libel by the court of appeal.

The ruling is "a blow to investigative journalism," media lawyers have said, because it overturned a previous ruling that gave a newspaper article "Reynolds privilege," which "offers certain protections to investigative journalists," MediaGuardian explained.

Gary Flood, a detective sergeant in the Metropolitan Police, sued Times Newspapers Limited in 2006 for libel because an article stated he was under investigation "taking bribes." However, the court ruled the newspaper article was protected by the Reynolds privilege. After that ruling, Flood was allows to cross-appeal, and although the print article was found to be protected under the Reynolds privilege, because Flood was exonerated on bribery charges, the privilege did not protect the article on the Times website, according to MediaGuardian.

"The court also rejected The Times's appeal against the judge's finding that web publication of the same story was not protected by Reynolds privilege after the date when the newspaper knew Det Sgt Flood had been cleared by an investigation because it failed either to take the story down or add a note making clear that the situation had changed since the original publication," a Press Gazette article explained.

The Times is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, according to the Inforrm's Blog, which also noted that the decision was the first time a national newspaper in the country successfully established a Reynolds defense.