In Ireland v. Edwards, 230 Mich App 607, 614; 584 NW2d 632 (1998), the Court identified the four elements of defamation as: (1) a false and defamatory statement concerning the plaintiff; (2) an unprivileged publication to a third party; (3) fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; (4) either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm (defamation per se) or the existence of special harm caused by the publication (defamation per quod).