z INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 “Some of their fellow-citizens acquired a power over the rest which might truly have been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of invariable transmission from father to son.”
— Alexis de Toqueville
(1840, 4)

Jan Brewer
Governor of Arizona
Jeff Sessions
U.S. Senator
Hilary Clinton
U.S. Secretary of State
George Bush, Sr.
41 st President

z INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Gained interest because their occupation affects the public at the national, state, and/or local level
 Recognized for knowledge, leadership skills, and charisma

Ellen Pompeo
T.V. Actress
Kobe Bryant
Professional Basketball
Player
Beyonce Knowles
Singer
Brad Pitt
Actor

z INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Gained interest because their occupation interests the public
 “The glamorous impersonates the ordinary.”
— Laura Mulvey
(1975, 205)

z INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 False & derogatory statements that injure reputation
 Slander & libel
 Tortus = twisted

z INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 The First Amendment vs.
English common law
 Private Individuals v. Public
Figures/Officials

English Common Law Tradition
— INTRO.
z HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 1275 statute outlawing slander between King & people
 Penance vs. temporal grievance
 Court of Star Chamber & birth of libel law
 Importance of reputation in
English society

Defamation in the United States
— INTRO.
z HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 “Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
 The Sedition Act of 1798
 Common law remained intact

— INTRO.
z HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Prior to 1896—no press space in
White House
 Appearance of mass-circulation press
 Theodore Roosevelt holds press conferences
 After Watergate—shift in public interest

Pres. Kennedy as a Public Official
— INTRO.
z HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 The masquerade of Camelot in the 1960’s
 Post-Watergate—reality of
Kennedy’s private life

— INTRO.
z HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 The Hollywood Studio
Machine
 The growth of tabloids

New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
 The facts of the case — INTRO.
— HISTORY z CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Common law v.s. the First
Amendment
 Public officials & actual malice
 A new American standard

— INTRO.
— HISTORY z CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
Time, Inc. v. Hill (1967)
 Facts of the case
 Not a libel suit
 A matter of public interest
 Hill as a public figure

Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967)
— INTRO.
— HISTORY z CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Facts of the case
 Butts as a public figure
 Application of actual malice standard

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974)
 Facts of the case — INTRO.
— HISTORY z CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Gertz as a private citizen
 Actual malice standard inapplicable
 Treatment decided by the states

Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps (1987)
 Facts of the case — INTRO.
— HISTORY z CASES
— ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Common law and the burden of proof
 The most constitutionally protected entity
 Private citizens bear the burden

— INTRO.
American Defamation Law
& the Federal System
— HISTORY
 Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co.
(1990) — a framework
— CASES z ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Burnett v. National Enquirer
(1981) — kinds of malice
 The categories of public officials and public figures
 Differences in degree of fault

— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES z ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Internet intermediaries
 Communications Decency Act
(1996)
 Widespread anonymity; 55% of bloggers use pseudonyms.
 An advanced version of a classical forum

— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES z ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
 Monetary awards
 Declaratory relief
 Self-Help
 Right-of-Response statutes
 Injunctive relief
 Retraction

— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES z ISSUES
— SOLUTIONS
1. First Amendment vs. common law
2. Public vs. private citizens
3. Differences between states
4. Defamation and the internet
5. Insufficiency of remedies

Proposed Solution to Issue One:
The First Amendment vs. Common Law
— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
 Support New York Times interpretation of First
Amendment & common law
 No actual malice requirement in declaratory relief claims

Proposed Solution to Issue Two:
Public vs. Private Distinction
 Categories needed — INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
 Recommend the courts redefine the major categories based on today’s social constructs

— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
Thoughts on Issue Three:
Differences Between States
 Importance of enabling each state to craft its own defamation law
 The national framework holds the law in place

Proposed Solution to Issue Four:
Defamation & the Internet
— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
 Support Solove’s proposal for exhausting informal mechanisms when the defendant is not a repeat offender or part of a broadcast or print-media publication

Proposed Solutions to Issue Five:
Insufficiency of Remedies
— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
 Support a loser-pay-all system
 Believe declaratory relief issued in the same publication the defamatory statement was released as the most sufficient remedy

— INTRO.
— HISTORY
— CASES
— ISSUES z SOLUTIONS
 The twist in defamation law cannot be fully straightened because of its very nature, but perhaps, it can be slightly untwisted with new revision of the old law.

 Collins, Matthew. 2005. The Law of Defamation and the Internet. New York, N.Y.: Oxford
University Press, INC.
 Curtis Publishing Company v Butts, 388 US 130 (1967)
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgibin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=388&invol=13>
(accessed 20 September 2009).
 Gertz v. Robert Welch, INC., 418 US 323 (1974) < http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgibin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=418&invol=323> (accessed 19 September 2009).
 Kupferman, Theodore R. ed. 1990. Defamation: Libel and Slander: Readings from
Communication and the Law, I. Westport, Connecticut: Meckler Corporation.
 Milo, Dario. 2008. Defamation and Freedom of Speech. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.
 Mulvey, Laura. 1975. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In The Routledge Critical and
Cultural Theory Reader. 2008. Eds. Neil Badmington and Julia Thomas. New York, N.Y.:
Routledge. 202-212.
 New York Times Company v. Sullivan, 376 US 254 (1964)
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=376&invol=254>
(accessed 20 September 2009).
 Philadelphia Newspapers, INC v. Hepps, 475 US 767 (1987)
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case
=/us/475/767.html> (accessed 19 September 2009).

 Schwartz, Victor E., Kathryn Kelly, and David F. Partlett. 2005. Prosser, Wade, and Schwartz’s
Torts: Eleventh Edition. New York, N.Y.: Foundation Press.
 Siegel, Paul. 2008. Communication Law in America: Second Edition. New York, N.Y.: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, INC.
 Smolla, Rodney A. 1986. Suing the Press. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, INC.
 Solove, Daniel J. 2007. The Future of Reputation. New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press.
 Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgibin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=385&invol=374> (accessed
19 September 2009).
 Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1840. “Equality of Condition.” In Classic Readings in American Politics: 3rd
Edition. 1999. Eds. Pietro S. Nivola and David H. Rosenbloom. New York, N.Y.: Worth
Publishers INC. 3-8.

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