Word: libeler
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...with the Supreme Court, these shows do deal with topical legal issues. The litigants on Superior Court have included a couple seeking a refund of their deposit on a new home after discovering that the previous owner had died of AIDS, a bank teller suing a TV station for libel after it falsely reported that he was a robbery suspect, and a retarded woman's mother petitioning the court to have her daughter sterilized. Among The Judge's tough assignments: a teenage brother and sister accused by their younger sister of committing incest...
While the claims of CBS and Time were declared to be unfounded, the courts did not find them guilty of "actual malice" or of a "reckless disregard" for the truth. Hence, they were not guilty of libel. Adler writes that such a standard of libel is incoherent. When calling for a reinterpretation of the libel laws, however, she is not very convincing--or credible...
...Media may well be unjustifiably arrogant and self-confident. But does Adler really want to make it easier for plaintiffs to win libel suits? Time and CBS can afford Cravath's impressive services. But what about the Podunk Daily Herald? In a "coda" to the book Adler does acknowledge that any changes in the libel laws, especially under the new Supreme Court, would likely be a change for the worse. What she doesn't mention is an interesting, and relevant, bit of her past...
Adler is particularly critical of the extra difficulty "public figures" have in winning libel suits. This inspired her critics to shish Adler with her own kebob stick. Why? Well, before either the Westmoreland or Sharon trial began, Adler filed a libel suit against the Washington Journalism Review...
...case was dismissed in September, but Adler would have had an easier libel standard to meet had she not been categorized by the court as: a public figure. It's quite surprising, isn't it, that the furious press critic who wrote Reckless Disregard did not think to include a disclaimer about her own involvement in libel proceedings...