Since before Drew Pearson, whose syndicated column elicited more titan 100 libel suits, editors have feared libel suits prompted by copy produced by outside writers. The courts have given prudent editors some breathing space, however, shielding publications in most instances from potential recklessness of free-lancers.
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References
1.
Total damage sought in the suits against Pearson or subscribing newspapers exceeded $100 million; most of the suits were brought before astronomical damages were requested, thus making even more staggering the total. Pearson personally paid court-directed damages in only one suit brought against him during his career. Subscribing newspapers never were assessed court-directed damages. However, in six instances, newspapers settled out of court for relatively small amounts merely to get out from under pending litigation. See, e.g., AndersonDouglas A., A “Washington Merry-Go-Round” of Libel Actions (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1980) for book-length treatment of involvement of “Merry-Go-Round” writers and subscribing newspapers in libel actions. See particularly pp. 99–127, where the author discusses the 68 chain libel actions brought by Ohio Congressman Martin Sweeney against Pearson and selected newspapers that published the column in question. See also AndersonDouglas A., “Drew Pearson: A Name Synonymous with Libel Actions,”Journalism Quarterly, 56:235–42 (Spring 1979).
2.
Despite the fact that editors undoubtedly cringed at the content of some of Pearson's columns, they did not want to reject the popular column for fear that a competing newspaper might carry it. See AbellTyler, editor, Drew Pearson Diaries, 1949–1959 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974), p. xiii. The column was launched in 1932. By early 1933, only six newspapers had subscribed. By mid-1934, however, the number had increased to 270. See also, FisherCharles, The Columnists (New York: Howell, Soskin, 1944), pp. 237–38. When Pearson died in 1969, some 600 newspapers subscribed. “Crusading Columnist Drew Pearson Dies at 71: Heart Attack Ends Long Career as Gadfly of Government,”Washington Post, Sept. 2, 1969, p. 1. Jack Anderson inherited the column when Pearson died. Today, approximately 900 newspapers subscribe to it. See also, AndersonDouglas A.PingeltonDan, “Examination of the Content of the ‘Washington Merry-Go-Round,”’Newspaper Research Journal, 3:45–51 (April 1982).
3.
“Not Firing Aides for “Any S.O.B.” Truman Asserts,”Washington Post, Feb. 23, 1949, p. 1.
4.
96Congressional Record16641 (1951) (remarks of Senator McCarthy).
5.
Ibid. at 16634-41.
6.
Ibid. at 16640 (italics added).
7.
“Crusading Columnist Drew Pearson Dies at 71; Heart Attack Ends Long Career as Gadfly of Government,”op. cit.
8.
Keogh v. Pearson, Civil No. 62-3788 (D.D.C., July 9, 1974); Keogh v. Pearson, Civil No. 64-1274 (D.D.C., July 9, 1974); Keogh v. Pearson, Civil No. 64-C940 (E.D.N.Y., Dec. 16, 1965). The first case, filed in 1962, was reported as Keogh v. Pearson, 244 F. Supp. 482 (D.D.C. 1966).
9.
The Washington Post Co. v. Keogh, 365 F.2d 965 (D.C. Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 1011 (1967).
10.
Jbid. at 969.
11.
Keogh v. Pearson, 244 F. Supp. at 483.
12.
376 U.S. 254 (1964). The Sullivan decision nationalized libel law. The U.S. Supreme Court held that a state cannot, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, award damaged to a public official for defamatory falsehoods relating to his official conduct unless he proves “actual malice”—that the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth.
13.
Keogh v. Pearson, 244 F. Supp. at 486.
14.
The Washington Post Co. v. Keogh, 365 F.2d at 966 (italics added).
15.
Ibid. at 968.
16.
Ibid. at 969.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ibid.
19.
Ibid. at 972–73.
20.
Ibid. at 972.
21.
Ibid. N.6 at 970.
22.
“High Court Backs Press on Privacy,”New York Times, Jan. 10, 1967, p. 28.
23.
Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153 (1979).
24.
Herbert v. Lando, 596 F. Supp. 1178 (S.D. N.Y. 1984).
25.
Ibid. at 1184.
26.
Ibid. at 1231.
27.
Ibid. at 1185.
28.
Ibid. at 1228.
29.
Ibid.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid. (italics added)
32.
Ibid. (italics added)
33.
Ibid. at 1228–29.
34.
Ibid. at 1229.
35.
Martin Marietta Corp. v. Evening Star Newspaper, 417 F. Supp. 947 (D.D.C. 1976).
36.
Ibid. at 950.
37.
Ibid. at 949.
38.
Ibid. at 962.
39.
Ibid, at 952.
40.
Ibid.
41.
Ibid. at 961. Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing, 419 U.S. 245 (1974), was a false light invasion of privacy suit. Joseph Eszterhas, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, had written a piece for the newspaper's Sunday Magazine that contained inaccuracies and false statements. The court noted that the reporter's “writing of the feature was within the scope of his employment at the Plain Dealer and that Forest City Publishing Co. was therefore liable under traditional doctrines of respondeat superior.” Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing, 419 U.S. at 253–254. Because Eszterhas often suggested stories he would like to write for the Sunday Magazine and because he was employed by the newspaper, “the jury could reasonably conclude that Forest City Publishing Co., publisher of the Plain Dealer, should be held vicariously liable for the damage caused by the knowing falsehoods contained in Eszterhas' story.” Ibid. Black's Law Dictionary notes that the maxim, respondeat superior, “means that a master is liable in certain cases for the wrongful acts of his servant.”
42.
Ibid. at 959.
43.
The Washington Post Co. v. Keogh, 365 F.2d at 971, as cited op. cit. at 960–61.
44.
Ibid. at 958.
45.
Nelson v. Globe International Inc., 626 F. Supp. 969 (S.D. N.Y. 1986).
46.
Ibid. at 972.
47.
Ibid.
48.
Ibid. at 972–73.
49.
Ibid. at 973.
50.
Ibid. at 976–77.
51.
Ibid. at 978.
52.
Nader v. Toledano, 408 A.2d 31, 37–38 (D.C. Cir. 1979), cert, denied, 444 U.S. 1078 (1980).
53.
Ibid. at 54–55.
54.
Ibid. at 56.
55.
Ibid. at 57, N. 15.
56.
Gertz v. Welch, 680 F.2d 527 (7th Cir. 1982, cert. denied, 103 S. Ct. 1233) (1983).
