The New York Times did not commit defamation when it incorrectly linked former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to a 2011 mass shooting, the judge in the case ruled after a weeklong trial.
Wednesday he had not done so maliciously or realized it would be taken to suggest she had incited the shooting, saying he has “regretted [his wording choice] pretty much every day since.”made false statements about her with “actual malice,” meaning there’s “clear and convincing” evidence the newspaper knew they were false or “or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”’ part, but it did not rise to the “very high standard” of actual malice.
“It’s an incredibly important case, because it is about freedom of the press, and about the First Amendment,”attorney David Axelrod said in his closing statement Friday, adding it was also about “an honest mistake” and Bennet had also offered a public apology to Palin after the piece was corrected. “Why would somebody write, ‘We screwed up,’ if we intended to harm somebody?”published the claim knowing it was false and that the op-ed had hurt Palin personally and professionally.
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