Word: libelousness
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...retired general held his head high for the 200 reporters and photographers at his press conference at Manhattan's Harley Hotel last week. Pale and tired-looking but firm of voice, he claimed victory in his $120 million libel suit against CBS. Although William Westmoreland had withdrawn his case and had won no money, no vindication by a jury and no retraction, he said that a joint statement issued by him and the network had provided the affirmation of his honor that he had sought. The statement said, in part, "CBS respects General Westmoreland's long and faithful service...
With those contrasting statements, which came after 18 weeks of testimony and just a few days before the scheduled end of the trial, one of the most celebrated libel cases in American history was removed from a court of law and placed where legal scholars believed it belonged from the outset, in the court of public opinion. The result seemed to validate the conventional legal wisdom that public figures have little chance of sustaining libel victories % against the press, but to prove as well that their suits can cause significant concern and expense (see ESSAY...
...show's producer, George Crile, but did not address most questions about substance. CBS announced that it "stood by the broadcast," and Westmoreland condemned that stance as a "whitewash." Although he had been counseled by former colleagues not to sue because a public figure was unlikely to win a libel trial, Westmoreland accepted the offer of Capital Legal Foundation to represent him; much of the $2 million cost of his case was provided to Capital by conservative foundations and individuals...
Opinion was divided on whether the outcome in Westmoreland's case, and in the libel case that former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon lost against TIME, would encourage or discourage libel suits. Said Executive Editor Heath Meriwether of the Miami Herald: "The ability of CBS to put on a rousing defense was well noted, and I would hope that this has raised red flags among potential plaintiffs. Libel litigation has not proved to be either effective or efficient as the forum in which to seek redress for alleged wrongs." First Amendment Attorney Floyd Abrams, whose clients have included...
...lifetime. Even a rogue may cherish the mistaken notion that he enjoys the respect of his community. As Shakespeare's foulest villain, Iago, puts it in Othello, "Good name in man and woman is the immediate jewel of their souls." That is why the concepts of slander and libel, and of the right of the aggrieved to seek redress for defamation, were introduced into English common law during the Middle Ages and why those ideas survive in U.S. law today...