The Most Common Libel Prompting Charges - Essay Example

Some of the most common libel prompting charges is accusing someone of being a communist, describing a lady as a call girl, calling an attorney a criminal, and condemning a minister for immoral conduct (Amponsah 78). Also, other cases arise due to accusing a father of infringing the confidence of his son, calling a political foe a liar or thief and calling a television character a “chicken butt" and "local loser".The defences used in lawsuits are the truth, privilege and fair comment. If a journalist reports something, then it is thought to be true (Lawhorne 98).

Also, journalists have the privilege of reporting accurate proceedings. Finally, journalists have the right to fair comments. Hence, what is published is perceived as the truth. The New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan recognized that, for a public official to succeed, a declaration must be printed (Mason 53). In addition, the person who published the statement was aware it would cause havoc, but he or she still disregarded the truth. Some of the court rulings that have had a significant impact on libel law are the case of John Zenger vs.

William Cosby (1735), Dow Jones vs. MMAR Group Inc. and Alex Konanykhin vs. Izvestia, the Russian newspaper. All these cases went in favour of the plaintiffs. It also goes to conclude that if a plaintiff has grounds with regards to what was published he or she stands to win in a court of law.