March 9 marks the 62nd anniversary of the US Supreme Court deciding the Times V. Sullivan case.
A State cannot, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, award damages to a public official for defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves “actual malice” — that the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard of whether it was true or false.
For those not up on Court rulings important to the practice of free and independent journalism in the United States, here is a brief summary of the importance of the ruling from the Texas A&M Law Review.
This ruling has protected hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists.
In the past few years, that ruling has come under attack, mostly from politicians who want to take news organizations to court for “unfair” coverage.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University had a piece two years ago that looked at the importance of the ruling and the threats to it: The Enduring Significance of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
The DC SPJ Chapter did a session on the ruling September 23, 2021 with attorney Charles D. Tobin and then-Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple as they discuss the history, effects on journalism and the future of the 1964 Supreme Court decision NY Times v. Sullivan.