ACTUAL MALICE -- NEW YORK TIMES V. SULLIVAN
Actual Malice
New York Times v. Sullivan
Actual malice in United States law is a condition required to establish libel against public officials or public figures and is defined as knowledge that the information was false or that it was published with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. Reckless disregard does not encompass mere neglect in following professional standards of fact checking. The publisher must entertain actual doubt as to the statement’s truth hence allowed free reporting of the civil rights decisions supporting the freedom of the press.
’Malice,’ even as defined by the Court, is an elusive, abstract concept, hard to prove and hard to disprove. The requirement that malice be proved provides at best an evanescent protection for the right critically to discuss public affairs and certainly does not measure up to the sturdy safeguard embodies in the First Amendment. -- Justice Hugo Black