This year marks the 60th anniversary of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that newspapers can’t be liable for defamatory statements about public figures unless they are made with actual malice. It’s one of the key decisions supporting the First Amendment and has been foundational for reporters covering businesses, governments, and the people who run them. Given the current state of the news business, the emergence of powerful social media platforms, and with another presidential election only months away, I decided to revisit the case and to dive into a few new books.
Luckily, law professor Samantha Barbas was thinking along the same lines, and in her recent book, Actual Malice: Civil Rights And The Freedom Of The Press In New York Times V. Sullivan, she tracks the events behind the historic case, which arose after the Times published an ad for donations to defend MLK on trumped-up perjury charges in Alabama during the turbulent Civil Rights era. The ad contained several inaccuracies, and Sullivan, who was Montgomery’s public safety commissioner, sued in state court under Alabama’s libel law and obtained a $500,000 judgment against the Times and several Black ministers mentioned in the ad, arguing that his reputation was impugned by implication even though he wasn’t named. Aided by a state judge who was both a white supremacist and a pedophile, local officials began enforcing the court award by seizing the homes and cars of the local ministers. Barbas lays out all of this in gripping detail, and readers will be rooting for the journalists, activists and lawyers who prevailed at the Supreme Court as well as Justice William Brennan who carefully crafted the unanimous opinion reversing the Alabama opinion and consequent actions.
Back in the 1960s, segregationists feared the national press and its power to sway public opinion with on-the-ground reporting and images. Democracy, we all learned, benefits from a more informed citizenry. However, in the last two decades, our country has lost more than 2,000 newspapers, leaving an estimated 70 million people in places considered “news deserts” or at risk of becoming one. That’s why American University professor Margot Susca is so concerned about the concentration of media ownership in the hands of private investment funds with a single-minded focus on profits above all else. In her just-released book Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy, Susca chronicles America’s newspaper commercial history, tracking ownership, distribution and technology from the “Colonial era” up until the “mass market era,” which existed for much of the 20th century. The business of reporting the news always has involved commercial strategy and opportunity cost. What’s different now, she argues, is the media oligopoly that has emerged, resulting in disproportionate payouts to executives, neglected audiences, and a devastating lack of investment in news organizations large and small. Susca names names and makes a persuasive case. The future of news truly is at stake.
The answer to some of these challenges might be right in front of us, or at least in our own backyard, according to former Boston Globe editor Ellen Clegg and news veteran and journalism professor Dan Kennedy, authors of the engaging new book What Works In Community News. Much of national news and talk-show opinion, especially on cable outlets and social media platforms, is meant to engage, enrage and divide, hooking viewers on what some call “anger-tainment.” Clegg and Kennedy present an impressive number of media business startup models in such places as California, Iowa, New Jersey, Minnesota and Tennessee, all centered on quality local news, which they argue enhances community, transparency and, ultimately, self-governance. As the authors demonstrate, communities often have better schools, cleaner streets and lower overall borrowing costs when reporters cover local decision-makers. That’s why so many Americans care deeply about local news and its unique power to inform and hold elected leaders to account. After reading this book, some may even want to launch their own grassroots news platform.
Here’s hoping they do. With fewer outlets for consequential news and rumblings among some Supreme Court Justices about watering down New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, we all need to pay more attention. As legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow once said, “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” That’s never been truer than it is today. The future of news is now.
Read in the Boston Business Journal
Larry Gennari is a business lawyer and chief curator of Authors & Innovators, an annual business book and ideas festival. Watch recent interviews with authors here. Gennari also teaches Project Entrepreneur, a business fundamentals bootcamp for returning citizens, at BC Law School.
