(ANSA) – NEW YORK, FEB 14 – The New York Times should not be tried for a 2017 editorial that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin considers defamatory. The judge in charge of the case recommended that the lawsuit should not be prosecuted on the grounds that the former Alaska governor’s attorneys would not have presented sufficient evidence to prove the newspaper’s bad faith when it linked it to 2011 Arizona shooting in which six people were killed and then Congressman Gabby Gifford was seriously injured.
Judge Jed Rakoff asked the jury to continue its deliberations to arrive at a verdict and added that he considers an appeal one way or another inevitable.
Lawyers for Palin and the New York Times had presented their arguments on Friday and the jury has been meeting in the boardroom since this morning. The former governor’s lawsuit is a rare example of a libel lawsuit against a major newspaper and is seen as an important test case by First Amendment and press freedom experts.
Kenneth Turkel, Palin’s attorney, argued that the paper acted irresponsibly when it incorrectly linked Palin’s rhetoric to the shooting. David Axelrod, the Times attorney, replied that the paper had made “an honest mistake” and was corrected within hours. According to Axelrod, Palin’s thesis responded to a “conspiracy theory” that the then editor-in-chief James Bennet deliberately wanted to throw mud on her. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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