JB 4163 — SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE:
LIBEL PART 5
Know the definitions and rules. Be able to correctly recognize and apply them in hypothetical situations.
- Truth as a defense, including:
- Substantial Truth: Do minor inaccuracies or omissions destroy the defense of truth? Why?
- Do proper attribution and qualifying phrases such as "it is rumored," "reports say," or "allegedly" invalidate the libelous character of a defamatory statement?
- Qualified Privilege
- What elements are necessary for the defense to succeed?
- Why are journalists granted qualified privilege?
- Reports about which official proceedings and documents are covered by qualified privilege?
- First Amendment Protection for Statements of Opinion and Rhetorical Hyperbole
- What two types of opinion are protected by the First Amendment?
- How can even unverifiable statements of opinion can lose their constitutional protection?
- Ollman Test
- Tips on avoiding a libel suit based on statements of opinion. (See Pember, p. 220)
- Wire Service Defense
- Under what criteria would the wire service defense not be available to a media defendant?
- Statute of Limitations
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