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Speaking Freely On Public Issues: Criminal Suspects As Involuntary Limited-Purpose Public Figures, Daniel T. Pesciotta
Speaking Freely On Public Issues: Criminal Suspects As Involuntary Limited-Purpose Public Figures, Daniel T. Pesciotta
Daniel T Pesciotta
This paper discusses an important First Amendment issue that has received virtually no attention from the United States Supreme Court: the question of involuntary public figures in defamation cases. Determining an individual’s public figure status is often the dispositive question in defamation litigation as private figures need typically only prove the defendant spoke negligently, whereas public figures must satisfy the much higher actual malice standard first articulated in New York Times v. Sullivan. In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., the Court suggested that it is indeed possible for an individual to become a public figure involuntarily. Despite this …
A Libel Law Analysis Of Media Abuses In Reporting On The Duke Lacrosse Fabricated Rape Charges, David A. Elder
A Libel Law Analysis Of Media Abuses In Reporting On The Duke Lacrosse Fabricated Rape Charges, David A. Elder
David A. Elder
No abstract provided.
Truth, Accuracy And "Neutral Reportage": Beheading The Media Jabberwock's Attempts To Circumvent New York Times V. Sullivan -- A Plea For Classical Virtue, David A. Elder
David A. Elder
No abstract provided.
Relative Access To Corrective Speech: A New Test For Requiring Actual Malice, Aaron K. Perzanowski
Relative Access To Corrective Speech: A New Test For Requiring Actual Malice, Aaron K. Perzanowski
Aaron K. Perzanowski
This Article reexamines the First Amendment protections provided by the public figure doctrine. It suggests that the doctrine is rooted in a set of out-dated assumptions regarding the media landscape and, as a result, has failed to adapt in a manner that accounts for our changing communications environment. The public figure doctrine, which imposes the more rigorous actual malice standard of fault on defamation plaintiffs who enjoy greater access to mass media, was constructed in an era defined by one-to-many communications media. Newspapers, broadcasters, and traditional publishers exhausted the Court's understanding of the means of communicating with mass audiences. As …