Libel And Slander Research Articles

Regulacje typu Ag-Gag w Stanach Zjednoczonych – kontekst społeczny, ewolucja i charakterystyka

Przedmiot badań: Przedmiotem artykułu jest ewolucja, charakterystyka oraz społeczna rola re­gulacji typu Ag-Gag w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Rozwiązania te, niespotykane Europie, a w Pol­sce mogące uchodzić za zupełnie egzotyczne, penalizują fotografowanie i filmowanie na terenie zakładów mięsnych bez zgody właściciela, zatrudnianie się w zakładach mięsnych pod pozorem, wchodzenie na teren takich zakładów pod pozorem oraz brak zawiadomienia organów ścigania i służb weterynaryjnych o zaobserwowanym naruszaniu praw zwierząt na terenie zakładów mię­snych w ciągu 24 godzin od zaobserwowania naruszenia przez zawiadamiającego.
 Cel badawczy: Celem pracy jest analiza regulacji typu Ag-Gag oraz próba odpowiedzi na py­tanie, jaki jest wpływ tych regulacji zarówno na ochronę zwierząt, bezpieczeństwo żywności, ochronę środowiska i ochronę miejsc pracy w rolnictwie, jak i na ramy debaty publicznej oraz wolności słowa kształtującej wypowiedzi dotyczące dobrostanu zwierząt oraz praktyk dominują­cych w przemyśle mięsnym.
 Metoda badawcza: Autor, po pierwsze, przy zastosowaniu metody historycznej i porównawczej przedstawia rozwój stanowych i federalnych przepisów, które działalność organizacji prozwierzę­cych traktowały jako terroryzm, oraz regulacji typu food libel laws, które utrudniły lub wyelimi­nowały realną krytykę branży mięsnej w przestrzeni publicznej, a po drugie, przy zastosowaniu metody formalno-dogmatycznej analizuje wzorce i cechy rozwiązań typu Ag-Gag na przestrzeni różnych stanów i trzech ostatnich dekad. 1
 Wnioski: W konkluzji Autor stwierdza, że regulacje typu Ag-Gag okazały się efektywnym narzę­dziem skrępowania prężnie rozwijającego się ruchu prozwierzęcego w Stanach Zjednoczonych oraz instrumentem wyhamowania publicznej debaty na temat standardów traktowania zwierząt na farmach i ubojniach. Równocześnie brak jest dowodów, by regulacje typu Ag-Gag miały do­broczynny wpływ na deklarowane przez ich zwolenników cele, to jest bezpieczeństwo żywności, ochronę środowiska oraz bezpieczeństwo i higienę pracy w rolnictwie. Nadrzędnym i dominu­jącym efektem przyjętych rozwiązań okazało się skuteczne zamrożenie wolności wypowiedzi w poszczególnych fazach jej tworzenia i rozpowszechniania.

Still Comfortable After All These Years: A Response

In Writing in Public: Literature and the Liberty of the Press (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), I describe how the public function of literature changed as a result of developing press freedoms during the period from 1760 to 1810. I examine contests over the laws of copyright, defamation, privacy, and seditious libel to show what happened to literary writing once certain forms of discourse came to be perceived as public and entitled to freedom from state or private control. This issue of Critical Analysis of Law offers reviews of my book by Brian Cowan, Leslie Kendrick, Karen Petroski, and Elliott Visconsi. In this brief article, I address some of the reservations these reviewers express about my argument in the book, and in particular about its approach and tone. I note my own similar concerns, and I elaborate on what I see as some of the repercussions for my argument of having to limit its scope. I also restate my findings more forcefully to make clear that the position I take on the history I relate is not quite any of the several divergent positions that the reviewers attribute to me. My aim in the book, I emphasize, is to describe the consequences of a kind of cultural trade-off between literature and the law, among other discourses, that occurred in the transition to democracy, but I refrain from taking a position on these consequences.

Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant–Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law

Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant–Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law

Injuria, reputación y conflicto en las calles de Bilbao en la Edad Moderna

Este trabajo examina la importancia de la injuria verbal como factor desestabilizador de la vida comunitaria en el Bilbao de los siglos modernos. La abundancia de querellas por injurias en la villa pone de relieve la seriedad con que se tomaban estas ofensas y su efectividad para comprometer la reputación del individuo. La sociedad vizcaína reaccionó ante esta situación estigmatizando las actuaciones verbales que creaban escándalos y alborotos. La persona ideal era la quieta y pacífica, alejada del desorden social a que daba lugar el uso de palabras injuriosas. En el análisis se ha tenido en cuenta el papel que tuvo la alta densidad demográfica del Bilbao de estos siglos, en el origen y la resolución de los conflictos por injurias.

Patterns of media coverage repeated in online abuse on high-profile criminal cases

What relationship do the mainstream media have with online abuse on high-profile criminal cases? This article hopes to make a start at answering this question by examining tweets containing the #McCann hashtag, utilised by a highly engaged community of users to comment on all matters related to the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann. On #McCann, the child’s parents and other players are often singled out as the perpetrators of her disappearance and other crimes, in a blend of harassment, defamation and insults with conspiracy theories, disinformation and a strong anti-establishment vein typical of the posttruth era. Through an experimental digital ethnography blending elements of content and discourse analysis, this research has observed the #McCann conversation and analysed 500 tweets with the hashtag, observing that some of the most offensive theories posted by users on Twitter reprised themes seen in the mainstream media at the time of the disappearance, which resulted in defamation lawsuits by the McCanns and in complaints about unethical reporting at the Leveson Inquiry. This raises questions about the mainstream media’s responsibility and duty of care towards people they report on in the digital age, and showcases a symbiotic yet diffident relationship between anti-establishment online users and traditional news media.

Restoring Accountability in Freedom of Expression Theory: Public Libel Law and Radical Whig Ideology

Restoring Accountability in Freedom of Expression Theory: Public Libel Law and Radical Whig Ideology

The Marketplace of Ideas Online

The Marketplace of Ideas Online

Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant—Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law

Book Review| April 01 2019 Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant—Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law David E, Sumner. Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant—Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2018. Pp. xi+218. $35.00, hb. $9.99, eb. Patrick Tutka Patrick Tutka Niagara University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Sport History (2019) 46 (1): 133–134. https://doi.org/10.5406/jsporthistory.46.1.0133 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Patrick Tutka; Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant—Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law. Journal of Sport History 1 January 2019; 46 (1): 133–134. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jsporthistory.46.1.0133 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Sport History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2019 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2019 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Journalism, Public, Policy: An Institutional View of the Press’s Legal Discourse at the End of the 19th Century

This study analyzes discourse about journalists’ privilege and libel law from 1894 to 1897 to explain how the press articulated the public policy rationale for legal protection at a pivotal moment in journalism history. To illuminate the relationship between emerging professional values and ideas about law, it applies the analytical lens of institutionalism. The study argues that the public policy rationale that appeared in the legal discourse surrounding these key legal issues was both a function of principled professional identity–building and a means of “institutional maintenance” intended to protect the press’s social status.

The unethicality of doping in sports.

Performance enhancing drug use in sport arguably constitutes a crisis, and as such, targeted measures are needed in order to stem it. Substance abuse in professional sports and competitions has besmirched many world-class athletes' reputations and standing, in addition to jeopardizing their health. Furthermore, there are many instances of amateur athletes and school-aged competitors who have taken to using such substances as well, significantly exacerbating the overall picture. The widespread acknowledgement of the potentially life-threatening consequences of performance-enhancing drug use has prodded sports organizations and governments into cooperating on many different levels to preserve the ethical grounding and soundness of sport competitions; unlawful substance abuse is in fact liable to undermine the very core of fairness in competition. Doping, along with various forms of cheating, has been recorded throughout the history of sport: prohibition in itself is all but ineffective without reliable and systematic detection strategies and enforcement of sanctions.

The Duelling Ethic and the Spirit of Libel Law: Matters and Materials of Honour in France

Contemporary French libel law explicitly proposes to adjudicate matters of “honour”. In so doing, it deploys terms and techniques crafted in the 19th century, at a time when law’s jurisdiction over matters of honour was strongly disputed by an alternative quasi-legal institution: the duelling code. This article returns to that historical moment from a legal materiality perspective to examine the ways in which duelling and libel law borrowed from each other’s materials in order to make honour matter. It argues that the history of libel law cannot be cast as a straightforward instance of the legal 'formalisation' of a mere social code, as traditional modernization narratives might lead us to expect. Rather, it shows the ways in which libel law came to be haunted by the material traces of duelling, and explains why honour remains, to this day, a recalcitrant matter for French law.

The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery's Early Life

The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery's Early Life

How a Football Legend and a Preeminent Magazine Inadvertently Redefined Libel Law

How a Football Legend and a Preeminent Magazine Inadvertently Redefined Libel Law

Academic Publishing and Scientific Integrity: Case Studies of Editorial Interference at Taylor & Franci

Editorial independence is a bedrock principle of academic publishing. The growing domination of academic publishing by large, for-profit corporations threatens this independence. There is alarming evidence that large companies too often serve their own business interests and those of powerful clients rather than serving the scientific community and the general public. This evidence includes the publication of infelicitous commercial science and concealing scientific misconduct. We present two case studies in which the UK-based publisher Taylor & Francis interfered in the editorial process by blocking publication of legitimate criticism that had been reviewed and approved for publication by its specialized editors. The integrity of science depends in part on the transparency and intellectual honesty of all stakeholders. The widely-acknowledged inadequacies of English libel law are reviewed as context for some of Taylor & Francis’s fearful decisions.

“Watchdog” Journalists and “Shyster” Lawyers: Analyzing Legal Reform Discourse in the Journalistic Trade Press, 1895–1899

Studies of journalism history and law have contributed to an increasingly complete picture of the profession during the late nineteenth century, but these parallel lines of scholarship should be drawn together to deepen an understanding of the social role and legal status of journalism at a pivotal time. One key question is how the press claimed to adopt professional values such as independence and impartiality at the same time that it actively advocated for legal change on its own behalf. This study explains how the press navigated this apparent contradiction while confronting the issue of libel law reform in trade press coverage between 1895 and 1899. The article applies two related theoretical frameworks—institutionalism and the civil sphere—to analyze the structural and discursive factors in the advocacy of three trade publications. It argues that institutionalism and the civil sphere are complementary because they are responsive to each other’s shortcomings, and therefore could illuminate new pathways for scholars seeking to develop a more robust and holistic legal historical perspective for the field.

Defamation by Slander and Libel in the Workplace and Recommendations to Avoid Legal Liability

Defamation, or defamation of character, is heard often in the media when one person has supposedly made a false statement that harmed another’s reputation in some manner. However, the legal wrong or tort of defamation can take place in the employment context when employers or managers make an intentionally false statement that harms an employee’s character and career. This article illustrates the difference between “slander” and “libel” and discuss the privileges and defenses to defamation, especially the qualified privilege as it applies in the employment context. We discuss the implications of this tort in the workplace and provide recommendations on how to avoid liability for defamation.

Academic independence, freedom and ‘enlightenment’: The case of accounting research

This article examines the problem of academic freedom in a rather unlikely area: accounting and historical accounting research. It discusses some cases in the United States and the United Kingdom where accounting research led to controversy and tells the story of a PhD student (the author) sued for libel in 1986 for his research concerning a policy issue, the subject of public debate, and related to conflicts of interest for directors of a mutual organization (a building society) and their use of its funds. It shows how ‘managerial diversion’ was discovered, how the libel suit was successfully defended and how the law was changed. While academic independence issues have always existed and across disciplines, the case and discussion largely relate to the 1980s in the United Kingdom when universities suffered savage cutbacks in public funding and the imposition of ‘reforms’. The case study illustrates, and the article discusses these issues as they relate to the state of modern universities and the pressures on academics.

When the litigation winner becomes the loser: undeserving claimants and mitigation of damages in libel claims

ABSTRACTThe article assesses how the English courts have compensated defamed claimants who had misconducted themselves before action or during the course of litigation. It demonstrates that in recent years judges appear to have liberalised their approach to accepting evidence in mitigation of libel damages and allowed claimants’ disreputable conduct to restrict the level of awards almost to a vanishing point. The article argues that this emerging approach does not cohere with that adopted in other branches of tort, where claimants’ misbehaviour does not affect the level of general damages awarded, and carries with it the risk of undermining the vindicatory policy of libel law.

The Process is the Punishment: Criminal Libel and Political Speech in Canada

The number of U.S. states with criminal libel laws has been steadily declining since the 1960s, and the offense has been struck down in the United Kingdom and several former British colonies. In Canada, however, criminal libel not only continues to exist, but appears to be enjoying a resurgence, albeit one that has flown beneath the radar of Canadian lawyers, judges, and journalists, who frequently assert that criminal libel prosecutions are rare. The research reported in this article found more than 400 prosecutions since the beginning of the twenty-first century. While many of these cases were brought against people who disseminated sexual slurs against former romantic partners, in a substantial number of cases criminal libel law was used to punish citizens’ political speech, particularly speech critical of police or other justice system officials, a use wholly inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Order and Conflict Theories of Science as Competing Ideologies

Science is sometimes depicted, both in scholarly and lay accounts, as a consensual and orderly progression in the direction of truth; at other times, it is portrayed as an arena in which lone geniuses struggle against rivals and authorities to impose unconventional interpretations of reality. The paper introduces the concept of ‘order-conflict dichotomy’ to stabilize the content of these definitions. It then shows, through an in-depth analysis of the Irving trial, an English libel suit involving historical knowledge about World War II and the Holocaust, how these definitions can be used as rhetorical devices to promote professional and situational goals. Six couples of opposing sub-definitions of science are identified by analyzing court records. As a tentative hypothesis derived from the case, it is argued that the conception of science actors deploy in this kind of controversies reflect the overall structure of the market for knowledge about nature and society rather than disciplinary culture.