New York Times prevails in libel case

Mar 05, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It would appear that we see things differently, have a different system here and operate by different standards. It seems that something different prevails for the most part outside of Guyana in open societies gifted with the strengths of independent thinking. Here public figures operate as though they are immune (or should be) to being exposed and called to the carpet. Thinking that is frank, pulls no punches, and call things as they are in Guyana, collides with the visions and ambitions of the powerful. Recent developments in a libel claim in the United States serve as confirmation for our position.
On February 15, the New York Times carried a story captioned, “Sarah Palin’s Libel Claim Against the Times Is Rejected by a Jury.” According to the Times’ coverage of the lawsuit filed against it, “The verdict came a day after the judge said he planned to dismiss the case, ruling that Ms. Palin’s legal team had failed to prove that the newspaper defamed her.” News of this widely watched matter, was given extensive coverage in a broad cross-sections of the U.S. media fraternity. The jury agreed with the way Judge Jed S. Rakoff saw the libel suit. We think that though the learned jurist spoke outside the hearing of the jury, his words and stance may have provided grounds for higher courts in America to reverse the jury’s rejection.
As emphasized by the Times, “the jury’s verdict, and the judge’s decision, served as a validation of the longstanding legal precedent that considers an occasional mistake by the media a necessary cost of discourse in a free society.” The conclusions of both were that the paper had not acted with the level of recklessness and ill intent required to meet the high constitutional burden for public figures who claim defamation.
The Palin suit has set up hard tests of the law involving press freedoms. The burden of proof is on the one claiming injury and loss to show that a news outlet acted with “actual malice” and “displayed a reckless disregard for the truth.” Those are key considerations.” ‘Actual malice’ and ‘truth’ along with injury and loss. When there is no source indicating purposeful meanness and spitefulness, then a claimed grievance leads to a real one, for those parties targeted through the court system.
To emphasize our position, we at this publication believe that there is an urgent need for hard-hitting reporting on pivotal and sensitive aspects of national governance in this country. This is sadly lacking in most places in this society’s once fearless and truly independent Fourth Estate. Matters that lack the above crucial elements, or fail to bring about those personal deficiency in work standing, or any diminishing the reputation of those bringing suit for defamation, as claimed, do not rise to the levels that they have been taken to, and succeeded in emerging victorious.
Sometimes, in the pace and heat of daily media pressures, honest mistakes are made, and in the rush to stake out what is truly believed to be fair comment on any issue, or situation. It is a longstanding bar that public figures are held to higher standard of proof, and that harsh, sometimes punishing, commentary are part of their official calling.
This was part of the crux of The Times’ defense, meaning that an error was made. In the Palin case it is that the error was not an instance of actual malice, but due primarily to the pressure cooker environment in which media professionals function, day in and day out, and with an eye to competitive forces multiplying. Interestingly, it is a fact that the Times has not lost a libel case in America in five decades, where laws provide much more robust press protections than in other countries.
Moreover, when public figures are held in the same manner as ordinary members of the population, and do not have to “meet a high legal bar for proving harm from an unflattering article” American press freedom watchdogs warn that those who operate in the media world will tuck in their tails and retreat, doing disservice to public yearning for truths about how official business is conducted. This harms the public, there and here.

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