Can an individual plead qualified privilege against a newspaper?

The practice is properly regarded to be in the public interest; and a plea of qualified privilege when established raises the presumption in favour of the newspaper or the individual, for as was stated in Jenoure v. Delmege, [1891] A.C. 73 at p. 79: “The privilege would be worth very little if a person making a communication on a privileged occasion were to be required, in the first place, and as a condition of immunity, to prove affirmatively that he honestly believed the statement to be true. In such a case bona fides is always presumed.” But the presumption is not irrebuttable as it is in a case of absolute privilege, for it would be most unjust if the press or an individual were allowed the protection of a privilege when the evidence shows at the end of a plaintiff’s case that it may have been exceeded, i.e., that the publication contains a material statement of fact that has not been proved, and further that there may be good reason to think that it was made without an honest belief in its truth, and hence maliciously. That, with respect, was the situation hero at the end of the appellant’s case in our opinion.