Week Three Discussion Board The Elements of Libel Cases

Journalist nowadays have to be extremely careful about the vocabulary they use while writing their stories. The singular misspoken or miswrote word can cost that publication and journalist a lot of money in damages, which in turn, damages their reputation as a bringer of factual news. Basically said, even if the reporting is accurate, a person or a company can still sue for libel if their reputation was decreased in some form due to the media outlet’s report. The very definition of Defamation, or libel, according to Calvert, C., Kozlowski, D. V., & Silver, D. (2018), is a civil misconduct that, in some way, damages that person’s or company’s reputation, causing their business or daily lives to suffer as a direct result.

In a real-world example, Geoffrey Rush, an actor who won an Oscar suffered an accusation of sexual misconduct by a former colleague. However, Rush sued for defamation against The Daily Telegraph after the newspaper claimed, “in 2017 that Rush was sexually inappropriate with a female co-star during a 2015 production of King Lear” (Desta, 2019, para. 1). Rush’s case won $600,000 in damages which underscores the need for caution when reporting on a person or company. According to Desta (2019), the paper had engaged in sensational journalism as told by Justice Wigney. For this purpose, Calvert, C., Kozlowski, D. V., & Silver, D. (2018) are very clear in their book that reporting inaccurate information can be devastating.