Abstract
Defamation allegedly caused by misleading word-picture combinations has frequently led to libel actions, but the communication assumptions underlying such actions have rarely been examined empirically. Television news, with its combination of voice-over and video, is particularly vulnerable to claims that juxtaposition has created unintended defamatory meaning. This study finds that viewers' gender and race schemata can be used to help determine whether would-be libel plaintiffs can plausibly claim to have been identified and harmed by audio-video juxtaposition, even though nothing defamatory may have been communicated literally.
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