Word: libellant
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General Ariel Sharon's libel suit against TIME [PRESS, Nov. 26] puts at stake the freedom of the press and the right of Americans to be fully informed. If news that is honestly gathered can be suppressed by the threat of a libel suit by a public figure, the press is gagged...
...militarily in Viet Nam. Yet when he later went before a Senate committee, testifying as the Secretary of Defense, he strongly denied that we were in a "no-win" war. By ordinary standards, this would seem a lie, but not to McNamara. Testifying in the current libel trial of General William Westmoreland vs. CBS, McNamara said he based his testimony to Congress on the unstated hope that Henry Kissinger (then a private citizen) might be able to work out a diplomatic peace. That is what is known to theologians as a mental reservation, and to children as crossing your fingers...
...Moral Majority saying that he always got "sloshed" before preaching and that he had lost his virginity in an outhouse with his mother. Falwell used the ad in a direct-mail solicitation to outraged supporters who raised $800,000, but he also sued Publisher Larry Flynt for both libel and "intentional infliction of emotional distress...
...malicious pranksters; one case, for example, involved a cruel joker who falsely spread the rumor that a woman's son had hanged himself. Constitutional experts warn that its use by public figures against the press could erode First Amendment protections by circumventing the rigorous standards of proof for libel. New York Attorney Floyd Abrams believes the verdict will be reversed, but, if not, it could encourage "an end run around constitutional protections for people who want to bring libel suits but know they...
...that deals with emotional suffering is far looser than that governing libel. In general, all that is required is that the offending act be intentional, outrageous, and inflict serious emotional damage. By those measures, many political satires and cartoons could be targets. Declares Arthur Strickland, one of Flynt's attorneys: "Reagan could sue Art Buchwald. George Bush could sue Garry Trudeau. Bush could say, 'Whenever I read Doonesbury I'm a basket case for the rest of the day,' and have a cause of action. Where does it stop?" Flynt's lawyers plan...