HOW LIBEL IS COMMITTED

If news media commit libel today, it generally occurs in one or more of the following areas:

l Attacking a person's character or personal reputation

l Accusing someone of a loathsome disease or insanity

l Accusing someone of a crime

l Attacking a person's professional competence

l Subjecting a person, in any way, to public contempt, hatred or ridicule

Instances of libel are more common than most people suspect, and court action does not have to result before a statement becomes libelous. There are hundreds of instances of libel everyday in the United States news media. The vast majority of them are minor or borderline cases, and most of the more serious ones go unnoticed or uncontested. There are relatively few court actions for libel.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR LIBEL

Let's assume that you write a story and accidentally include a statement that offends somebdy. The person offended sues for libel. Who is responsible? Who pays? A casual observer might think that in a suit against a large newspaper, any damages will be paid by the medium publishing the story. This is not necessarily so.

Technically, everybody who had anything to do with the statement may be sued. This includes you, the PAO who released it, the officer in command who is responsible for everything you release, the editor who accepted it, the editor who approved it and anybody else in the chain of events who read it, understood it, yet allowed the statement to reach print.

Another point worth emphasizing is that any person who reprints a libelous statement can be held as being just as guilty as the person who originally published it. For example, assume that one newspaper publishes a libelous statement. Another newspaper picks up the story, credits the first newspaper with the facts and republishes it. The second newspaper may be just as guilty as the first, if the case reaches court and libel is proved. In some states, charges maybe brought against both newspapers.

Wire services are similarly liable. Occasionally, a newspaper will publish a wire service story that is libelous and the newspaper cannot or does not verify the facts in the story. Despite the circumstances, some states hold that the newspaper is just as responsible as the wire service, while other states place the blame solely on the wire service. Nevertheless, a person can name anyone in a lawsuit who had anything to do with the preparation of the story or its distribution.