Word: libellous
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Both of you, and Bob particularly, you ought to get yourself a libel lawyer, Bob, and use the most vicious libel lawyer there is. I'd sue every [expletive deleted] ... that also helps with public opinion...
...matter might and would have ended there. But in March, 1973, some of the editors republished the libel by submitting the article for the Dana Reed prize. Not surprisingly this republication aroused Professors Landes' and Higonnet's indignation and outrage. The Crimson and Arthur Lubow recognize that this indignation and this outrage are justified and would like now to make amends by apologizing for that allegation of improper motivation and influence. We also reassert, as the original article stated, that there are positive aspects of the Harvard appointment procedure which help provide this University with a distinguished faculty...
...added wryly, the British press would never uncover it. Both law and tradition conspire against serious, sustained investigative reporting in Britain. Coverage of any subject before a civil or criminal judge, for instance, is restricted to reporting what occurs in open court. If the targets of an expose bring libel actions against a newspaper-Fleet Street calls them "gagging writs"-all discussion of the case is normally suspended, at least until the suits are adjudicated. Editors who have complained at being muzzled have found little sympathy from officials. "You cannot muzzle a sheep," the late Labor Party firebrand Aneurin Bevan...
...editors, who had been increasingly restless while watching American journalists pursue Watergate vigorously, decided to be sheep no longer. On April 3, a month after Wilson returned to power as Prime Minister, the Mail and Daily Express both broke front-page stories on the transaction. Enraged, Wilson issued libel writs against the two papers and apparently assumed that the matter would end. Instead, the Mail and Express boldly countered with follow-up stories, while the rest of Fleet Street raced to catch up with them...
Newspapers ran background features on the Wilson aides who had profited from the deal and prominently displayed photos of the disputed property, which was once a slag heap. Cartoons depicted 10 Downing Street buried in black slag, with Wilson digging out. Libel writs were issued against three other papers; but they had little effect as the news torrent continued. The Labor-leaning Guardian explored the potential conflict-of-interest issue of a Prune Minister's aides speculating in real estate ventures. Television also gave the story big play; one editor whose paper was being sued appeared...