JB 4163 — SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE:
LIBEL PART 3
Know the definitions and rules. Be able to correctly recognize and apply them in hypothetical situations.
- The fault levels required in libel actions against the media.
- Who must prove those fault levels.
- The correct legal definitions of those fault levels, that is, the legal definitions of actual malice and negligence.
- What those definitions mean and how fault is proven. In other words, what constitutes "knowledge of falsity," "reckless disregard," and "negligence."
- Masson v. The New Yorker (significance of)
- The factors courts consider in determining whether actual malice is present in a libel action: direct, state-of-mind evidence and indirect or circumstantial evidence.
- The differences in AP v. Walker and Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts that led to actual malice being found in one and not the other.
- The standards courts consider in determining if negligence is present in a libel action: Average Person Standard and Professional Standards.
- Examples of the types of actions found to be actual malice and negligence, as discussed in class and in the textbooks.
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