In 2008, political pundit Don Martin penned a negative screed against former NBC wartime correspondent and at the time Alberta provincial electoral candidate Arthur Kent, aka the Scud Stud.

Convinced that Martin had violated basic journalistic ethics, Kent took him and the CanWest news chain (later Postmedia) to court for defamation of character.

Eight years later, an Alberta court ruled in Kent's favour.

What issues drove Kent to undertake such an extensive - and likely expensive - lawsuit? And what does the ruling mean for journalists in Canada?