Sarah Palin’s Loss in Defamation Suit Shows Why Corrections Matter

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

​Sarah Palin’s long-running defamation suit against The New York Times came to an end last week, with a federal jury again ruling against her claims. The jury found, after just two hours of deliberation, that The New York Times had not defamed the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate by mistakenly linking her political action committee’s rhetoric to the mass shooting in Arizona in 2011 that killed six people and severely injured then-Rep. Gabby Giffords.
 
Of course, the media landscape today is fragmented and biased in ways that can frustrate fair public discourse. Outlets across the spectrum cater to their audiences’ ideological appetites, much as newspapers did in the early Republic. This partisanship is far from ideal, but the First Amendment still steadfastly protects it – even when bias tilts against conservatives.
 
In Palin’s case, The New York Times made an undeniable error when it published a 2017 editorial implying a link between the Arizona shooting and a map distributed by Palin’s PAC that contained congressional districts with stylized crosshairs. The mentally ill shooter had, in fact, a long-standing grudge against the congresswoman that predated the map. But mistakes, even careless ones, are not the same as “actual malice,” the standard set in New York Times v. Sullivan for public figures like Palin to prevail in libel suits.
 
The Times moved quickly, issuing a public correction less than 14 hours after publication and clarifying that there was no established connection between Palin’s map and the shooting. James Bennet, then-editorial page editor, tearfully apologized to Palin in court, acknowledging the mistake and his efforts to fix it. These actions matter. Corrections are not only an ethical obligation for journalists; they help defray the risk of defamation liability by showing good faith and a commitment to accuracy.
 
If Palin had prevailed in court, that ruling would have made corrections meaningless. Rather than encouraging media outlets to promptly and transparently acknowledge their errors, a Palin victory would have discouraged self-correction and made the political climate far more hostile to the open debate the First Amendment is designed to protect.
 
There is legitimate debate to be had about whether the Sullivan standard needs adjustment. There is clearly room in for more journalistic accountability in cases in which an untruth leads to the loss of an election or the termination of a contract. Courts and commentators alike have argued whether the line between public and private figures has blurred too much, making it unreasonably difficult for individuals to defend their reputations. Some argue that the precedent could use fine-tuning to address egregious falsehoods that are not caught by today’s high bar. But as this case shows, even high-profile plaintiffs can win under the current doctrine when facts warrant it – as Dominion did against Fox News.
 
Conservatives are right to be concerned about media bias. It is real and often glaring. But the answer cannot be to dismantle the constitutional protections that allow ideas – good, bad, and ugly – to compete in the marketplace. As we have written before, the solution lies not in empowering judges and juries to police editorial decisions, but in cultivating a discerning public that reads broadly and thinks critically.
 
The First Amendment guarantees a free press, not a fair one. Palin’s loss, while surely disappointing to her and her supporters, is a victory for that freedom, and for the principle that honest mistakes must not become fatal mistakes for a free and independent press.

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