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FIRST DIVISION
June 30, 2003

JUSTICE SMITH delivered the opinion of the court:

In May 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper published an article reporting a federalcourt ruling in a case that was decided under international child abduction law. In that case, thecourt ordered that a minor child who was taken from her home in Italy to Chicago by her mother,plaintiff Deirdre Harrison (Harrison or plaintiff), be returned to Italy. Harrison filed a complaintalleging that defendant Chicago Sun-Times, Inc., d/b/a The Chicago Sun-Times (Sun-Times ordefendant) defamed her and placed her in a false light by its statement that she kidnapped herdaughter Beatrice. The Sun-Times filed a motion to dismiss the defamation action, which wasdenied in part and granted in part, then filed a motion to certify three questions for immediateappeal pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 308. 155 Ill. 2d R. 308. This court is asked todecide: whether the complained-of statement is substantially true; whether the statement,contained in a front-page "leader" article, must be read together with an inside article, and if so,whether it is capable of an innocent construction; and whether the statement is a fair report of thedistrict court decision.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

The facts pertinent to this case were set forth by the United States District Court in theinternational child abduction action (Tabacchi v. Harrison, No. 99 C 4130 (N.D. Ill. 2000)(Tabacchi case or the district court case)) and are as follows.

Harrison met Gian Andrea Tabacchi (Tabacchi) in 1994, in New York City, where theybegan living together. The following year Harrison and Tabacchi moved to Italy and lived onTabacchi's family property near Rome. The couple married in 1996 and their daughter Beatricewas born in March 1997. Beatrice had lived her entire life in Italy and was enrolled in schoolthere until her removal to the United States in January 1999.

On January 15, 1999, Harrison, who had earlier argued with Tabacchi, took Beatrice to aneighbor's house. In response to Harrison's announcement that day that she planned to go to theUnited States with Beatrice, Tabacchi said he would go to the police. Tabacchi drove to theneighbor's house to get Beatrice and attemped to leave with her. In trying to prevent Tabacchifrom leaving, Harrison was knocked to the ground by him. Harrison ultimately prevented himfrom leaving by blocking the driveway with her car and Tabacchi gave Beatrice back to Harrison. The police arrived and Tabacchi inquired about charging Harrison with child abduction. He wastold that he could not do so because Harrison was the child's mother and he and Harrison werestill married. Harrison later went to the police station to report the assault by Tabacchi. Whenshe left the police station, she saw Tabacchi arrive there with his father. Tabacchi filed a policereport which included Harrison's threat to keep him from seeing Beatrice again: "'I WILL TAKEALL YOU HAVE, ASSHOLE, YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE CHILD AGAIN.'"

The next day, January 16, Tabacchi went to family court in Rome to try to preventHarrison from leaving with Beatrice. On a judge's suggestion, Tabacchi went to the policestation to have Beatrice's name listed to prohibit her removal from the country. He filed a reportat another police station, where he sought to track Harrison, but was told that was not possible. Tabacchi twice called the neighbor with whom Harrison stayed to inquire about Harrison'swhereabouts. In the afternoon, the neighbor told him that Harrison and Beatrice were probablyon an airplane.

On January 16, Harrison took Beatrice on a flight to London. Harrison did not tellTabacchi where they were going or when they would return to Italy. While she was still at theairport in Italy, Harrison mailed Tabacchi a postcard in which she informed him only of theirdeparture from Italy and her intention not to keep "total rights or access" to Beatrice from him. The next day, Harrison and Beatrice flew to Chicago, where they lived with Harrison's brother. On January 18, Tabacchi telephoned Harrison at her brother's apartment. Shortly thereafter,Harrison informed Tabacchi that she planned to divorce him. She later filed for divorce and anorder of protection in the Illinois courts.

Within one month, Tabacchi filed for separation from Harrison and custody of Beatrice inthe Italian courts. In March 1999, Tabacchi filed another document in the Italian courts,complaining of Harrison's conduct and removal of Beatrice, and claiming she falsely accused himof mistreating her (Harrison) to justify taking Beatrice. In Harrison's absence in July 1999, theItalian courts granted Tabacchi's petition for separation, awarded Harrison temporary custody ofBeatrice, and required Harrison to return Beatrice to Italy.B. Hague Petition

In June 1999, Tabacchi filed a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspectsof International Child Abduction (Hague Conference on Private International Law, FourteenthSession, Final Act, done at The Hague, October 25, 1980; Convention on the Civil Aspects ofInternational Child Abduction, Oct. 25, 1980, T.I.A.S. 11670, 1343 U.N.T.S. 89 (entered intoforce Dec. 1, 1983)) (child abduction convention or Hague Convention) in the United StatesDistrict Court. After holding a bench trial that ended in December 1999, the district court issueda memorandum opinion and order on February 10, 2000 (violation order). The district court'sdetermination was limited to the question of Harrison's wrongful removal of Beatrice under theHague Convention and did not address the merits of underlying custody issues. Harrison raiseddefenses under the Hague Convention, including grave risk of physical or psychological harm toBeatrice if she (Beatrice) were separated from Harrison upon return to Italy due to criminalprosecution of Harrison pending in Italy. Tabacchi testified that he would drop all criminalcharges against Harrison and take all possible measures to ensure that Harrison would not facecriminal prosecution for leaving Italy with Beatrice. The district court rejected Harrison'sdefenses and found that Beatrice's habitual residence was Italy and Tabacchi had custodial rightsto Beatrice that he was exercising at the time of Beatrice's removal, thus satisfying therequirements for wrongful removal under the Hague Convention. See Hague Convention, ch. I,art. 3; 42 U.S.C.