actual malice

Trump Verdict Raises Concerns About A Nasty Election Campaign Getting Nastier – Looking at a Broadcaster’s Potential Liability for Attack Ads

By David Oxenford|2024-05-31T09:38:54-05:00May 31st, 2024|Legal News|

With the verdict in the first criminal case against former President (and now candidate) Trump having been released, we can envision a whole raft of attack ads likely to be airing before the November elections. The verdict is likely to also increase political divisions within the country, and potentially fuel many other nasty attack ads... Continue Reading…

Two Supreme Court Justices Try to Ignite Debate on Defamation Standards – What A Change Would Mean for Broadcasters News and Political Ad Sales

By David Oxenford|2021-07-09T09:43:36-05:00July 9th, 2021|Legal News|

For well over 50 years, the Supreme Court’s New York Times v. Sullivan decision has governed the principles applied by the courts when assessing any claim of defamation. That standard requires that, to find a statement about a public figure to be defamatory, not only does the statement need to be false, but it also... Continue Reading…

Two Trump Defamation Claims Dismissed Including Claim Against TV Station for Political Attack Ad – What is the Relevance for Broadcasters?

By David Oxenford|2020-11-18T09:56:39-06:00November 18th, 2020|Legal News|

In the last few days, two defamation cases filed against media companies by the Trump campaign have been dismissed – one on the merits and one by agreement of the parties. This includes the suit filed by the campaign against Northland Television, the licensee of a rural Wisconsin television station. That station was perhaps the... Continue Reading…

The Law of Defamation and Political Advertising Argued in Trump Suit Against Wisconsin TV Station

By David Oxenford|2020-05-18T10:37:49-05:00May 18th, 2020|Legal News|

Political “issue advertising” – advertising run by groups like PACs and political parties rather than a candidate’s authorized campaign committees – is a rough and tumble world in which broadcasters can often find themselves in the middle. We’ve written extensively (here, here and here) about how issue advertising can impose additional public file obligations on... Continue Reading…