An Unfettered Press: Libel Law in the United States

From the U. S. GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENT OF STATE:

…The 18th-century framers of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press by writing that protection into the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Even so, the Supreme Court of the United States — the highest court in America — for years refused to protect the media from libel lawsuits by relying on the First Amendment. Instead, libel laws varied from state to state without a single coherent rule in the nation.

That all changed in 1964 when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that revolutionized libel law in the United States. The famous decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan once and for all created a national rule that squared more fully with the free press guarantees of the First Amendment. In its ruling, the Court decided that public officials no longer could sue successfully for libel unless reporters or editors were guilty of “actual malice” when publishing false statements about them…

The Supreme Court later extended its so-called Sullivan rule to cover “public figures,” meaning individuals who are not in public office but who are still newsworthy because of their prominence in the public eye. Over the years, American courts have ruled that this category includes celebrities in the entertainment field, well-known writers, athletes, and others who often attract attention in the media…

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EDITOR: Contrary to the misleading and self serving statements by the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.’s  publisher and counsel, the issue of the truthfulness of  former commissioner Molly Henderson’s accusations were not determined by the court but rather that they did not meet the especially higher standards required for a suit against a medium or a public figure.