Word: actualizations
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...deliberations, the jurors said that they interpreted the disputed paragraph, which reported on discussions Sharon had held with Lebanese Christian Phalangists before the massacre, as having a defamatory meaning. Two days later they announced their conclusion that the contested passage was false. In deciding last week for TIME on "actual malice," the third and most complex point, the jurors determined that the magazine had not published the paragraph knowing it was false or with serious doubts about its truth. That decision ended the trial in TIME's favor...
...most editors and libel lawyers welcomed the distinction the jury made on actual malice. "I'm impressed with the way the system worked," said Floyd Abrams, a New York lawyer who specializes in First Amendment cases. "Here the jury distinguished between a mistake and a lie. Most juries have not been able to do that, and consequently we have had a 75% reversal rate (of verdicts for the plaintiff) on appeal." The Washington Post editorialized: "The procedural technique of having a jury decide each element of the suit separately can help ensure that the difficult standard for libel claims...
...Philadelphia Inquirer, "it was clearly a political suit." The trend toward such suits, he said, amounts to "open season on freedom of expression." Abrams, however, predicted that TIME's ultimate victory would cause public officials to "think twice" before launching libel suits, "because they may lose on actual malice...
...despite the Sharon verdict in TIME's favor, which might suggest that the test of "actual malice" is as sturdy as ever, the growing number of libel suits involving stories on the official conduct of government figures threatens to strike at the core of what the Supreme Court sought to preserve in New York Times vs. Sullivan: a hearty and robust debate on issues of public importance. Many Americans may relish the prospect of seeing journalists on the defensive in a courtroom. But ultimately they may decide that the possible consequences--a less vigilant press, a dimmer light cast...
...first actual disciplining took place in Los Angeles, where Catholic welfare officials were instructed to cease referring anyone to a shelter for the homeless run by Signer Judith Vaughan...