Читать книгу Keeping the Republic - Christine Barbour - Страница 149

Freedom of the press also collides with the issue of libel, the written defamation of character (verbal defamation is called slander). Obviously, it is crucial to the watchdog and information-providing roles of the press that journalists be able to speak freely about the character and actions of those in public service. At the same time, because careers and reputations are ruined easily by rumors and innuendoes, journalists ought to be required to “speak” responsibly. The Supreme Court addressed this issue in New York Times v. Sullivan, in which it ruled that public officials, as opposed to private individuals, when suing for libel, must show that a publication acted with “actual malice,” which means not that the paper had an evil intent but that it acted with “knowledge that [what it printed] was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was false or not.”⁵³ Shortly thereafter, the Court extended the ruling to include public figures other than officials, including entertainment or sports celebrities, as well as people whose actions put them in a public position—such as a candidate running for office, or an author promoting her book.

libel the written defamation of character

Profiles in Citizenship Bill Maher

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Bill Maher is a big fan of the First Amendment. That’s because he says what few of us dare to say, what most of us dare not even think. The gasp of laughter that follows the comedian’s one-liners is not just shocked amusement; it’s shocked recognition that, uncomfortable, unflattering, and unpalatable as his observations are, they’re often right on target. Maher has made a career out of mocking the emperor’s anatomy, while most of us are still oohing and aahing over the splendor of his new clothes. Usually the First Amendment saves his bacon.

And sometimes it doesn’t. On September 17, 2001, he went on his ABC comedy show, Politically Incorrect, and said, about the suicide bombing of the World Trade Center: “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building—say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” Advertisers balked, and Maher’s show was canceled.

He’s back now, with a cable show called Real Time with Bill Maher, where he continues to speak his mind. Still, there are limits. He says: “I can’t get up there every week and just rail about the environment and global warming and whatever is going on that I think is most important. But I push it as far as I can.”