A Holyrood committee may seek to introduce a rare new bill to protect investigative journalism and tackle social media abuse.

There are persistent concerns that Scotland's unreformed defamation laws are being used by the rich and powerful to intimate journalists, campaigners and whistleblowers.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing proposals from the Scottish Law Commission to overhaul the legislation. However, it is still to commit to introducing measures already enjoyed in England and Wales and supported The Herald's long-running Freedom of Speech campaign.

The Justice Committee has now signalled its willingness to bring in its own legislation, a highly unusual move, as the Scottish Government weighs up the pros and cons. Its convenor, Margaret Mitchell, on Wednesday asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon if she would support the committee doing so.

The Tory MSP said: "The Scottish Government has not committed to legislation on updating our defamation law which would help clarify the boundaries of investigative journalism and also tackle online abuse. "Would the First Minister be supportive of the justice committee - using the powers which committees have but which have been rarely used - to introduce defamation as a committee bill."

Ms Sturgeon said it was not for her to tell the committee what to do but added: "I would have no objections "

The first minister added that her government would announce on whether will back reforms in the "not too distant" future. But in remarks that will be studied by campaigners for clues, she added: "This is a sensitive area, an area where for very understandable reasons there are strong views and strong feelings." She highlighted several proposals as controversial, including a serious harm test - ensuring there are not frivolous or vexatious cases taken against newspapers or even social media users. She added: "There are some quite thorny issues it is important to get right."

Ms Mitchell acknowledged that her committee had looked at the process of introducing a defamation law itself and "discovered it is complex and daunting".