Is it true that Brit media are quicker on the draw with rumor and relatively unsubstantiated material?

It would be interesting (and puzzling) if in fact true, because British libel and slander laws are apparently much more friendly to plaintifs than defendants, relative to what we find in the U.S....or at least so Geoffrey K. Pullum, a (very funny) linguist argued in a short but amazing article called The Linguistics of Defamation in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 3, 371-377.