Word: libel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Fundamentalist Leader Jerry Falwell called for a boycott against MCA, Universal's parent company; all MCA products, which include Grosset & Dunlap publishers, Spencer Gifts and Motown Records; and any theater that shows the film. Said Falwell: "Neither the label 'fiction' nor the First Amendment gives Universal the right to libel, slander and ridicule the most central figure in world history...
...Libel suits are a clumsy, costly and inefficient way of getting at the truth. The defending press can be grateful not to have to pay out the millions of dollars demanded in the Westmoreland and Sharon cases (large awards were becoming fashionable), but it cannot be happy about the prolonged and critical examination of flaws in its newsgathering processes...
Falwell took it very seriously. He sued the X-rated magazine and Publisher Larry Flynt for $45 million, charging them with invasion of privacy, libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In 1984 his privacy claim was thrown out by a federal judge, and a jury found no libel, believing no reasonable person could think that the spoof was being presented as factual. But the jury agreed with Falwell's complaint about emotional distress and awarded the televangelist $200,000. Despite the novelty of the verdict, an appeals court upheld the judgment. The jury's award to Falwell...
...decision should also discourage a trend that has led plaintiffs who feel offended by the media to try to collect damages for injury -- to their right of privacy, for instance, or their feelings -- when they cannot make the more difficult case for libel. But the court said last week that even when public figures claim emotional injury, they still must meet the complex "actual malice" standard devised for libel in the landmark 1964 decision New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. In that case, the court said that a public figure must show that a publication knew its statements were false...
Avoiding combat. For Pat Robertson, March 8 marks not only Super Tuesday but also the date his libel suit against Pete McCloskey is scheduled to go to trial. Robertson is suing McCloskey for claiming that he sought help from his father Senator A. Willis Robertson to avoid combat duty in Korea. A review of evidence collected by McCloskey's lawyers reveals that Robertson may be in for a blitzkrieg of bad publicity. Several fellow Marine officers corroborate McCloskey's claim, and a letter from Robertson's father to Marine General Lemuel Shepherd expresses his pleasure that Pat "will get more...