WEEK 9: Media law

WEEK 9: Media law
The New York Times published an editorial advertisement in 1960 entitled “Heed Their Rising Voices by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King. The full-page ad detailed abuses suffered by Southern black students at the hands of the police in Montgomery, Ala.
 Even though he was not mentioned by name in the article, L.B. Sullivan, the city commissioner in charge of the police department, sued the Times and four individual black clergyman who were listed as the officers of the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King.
Sullivan demanded a retraction from paper. After not receiving a retraction, Sullivan then sued the newspaper and the four clergymen for defamation in Alabama state court.
The judge instructed the jury that falsity and malice are presumed. The judge also instructed the jury that the newspaper and the individual defendants could be held liable if the jury determined they had published the statements and that the statements were “of and concerning Sullivan.
The jury awarded Sullivan $500,000. After this award was upheld by the Alabama appellate courts,
the defendants appealed to the United States Supreme Court.




Click HERE for the website case.

Comments: Well, i think he did  deserved that win in the court. He wanted a retraction from the paper and when new ork times did not give what he wanted he sued. The newspaper defamed Alabama state court.Also they reopened it in 2010 but in the supreme court.