Wire services are similarly liable. Occasionally, a
newspaper will publish a wire service story that is
libelous and the newspaper cannot or does not verify the
facts in the story. Despite the circumstances, some states
hold that the newspaper is just as responsible as the wire
service, while other states place the blame solely on the
wire service. Nevertheless, a person can name anyone
in a lawsuit who had anything to do with the preparation
of the story or its distribution.
TYPES OF LIBEL
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the
different types of libel.
There are two kinds of libel obvious libel and
libel by inference (hidden libel), refereed to in law as
libel per se and libel per quod, respectively. Do not let
yourself become confused by the Latin terms.
LIBEL PER SE
The more obvious of the two, libel per se, means
by itself or on the face of it. The reader or viewer
does not have to interpret or study in order to understand
the libel per se because it is obvious or evident. Libel
per se is the more serious of the two types, and persons
libeled in this manner do not have to prove that they
suffered damage to their reputations, monetary loss or
other injury. Libel per se can support a lawsuit in itself.
There are probably thousands of words, phrases and
statements in the English language that are libelous in
themselves. Some of them are of a political nature,
others refer to race or religion and still others involve
specific professions and occupations. Others (and this
is no doubt the largest group) affect the honesty,
integrity or morals of anyone to whom they are applied.
Here are just a few examples of words and phrases
you should not use in reference to individuals or groups:
c Professionals. Attorney: shyster, ambulance
chaser, crafty, unprincipled, and slick Business
person: swindler, racketeer, double-dealer, cheat,
and phony. Politician: liar, grafter, perjurer, seller
of influence, pocketer of public finds, and
criminals partner. Doctor: quack abortionist,
faker, and incompetent. Also, never use such
words as crooked and criminal to descibe people
or their behavior.
Affiliations. Red, Communist, Nazi, a member
of the Ku Klux Klan, atheist, nudist and socialist
Honesty and Morals. Unreliable, a credit risk,
hypocrite, adulterer, unchaste, prostitute,
drunkard, conspirator, mistress and thief.
Obviously, there can be many more classifications
of words and phrases that are libelous in themselves. For
example, a word like drunkard can have numerous
synonyms, all just as libelous, and the same thing applies
to most of the nouns and adjectives in the preceding list.
Another point worth considering is that the
meanings of words and phrases can and do change. Over
a period of years the meaning of a word or phrase can
shift gradually until it is no longer libelous in itself or
libelous at all. The reverse also is true. A word or phrase
harmless a few years ago maybe libelous in itself today.
A word that has almost entirely lost a previous
libelous per se meaning is alcoholic. A few years ago
the word was synonymous with drunkard, but today
ir refers to an illness alcoholism. Words of this type,
however, should still be used with caution.
As for a words meaning changing from a safe
description to a libelous one, do you remember when
gay meant happy and carefree?
In a libel suit, if the defamatory material is libelous
in itself, the court decides on the interpretation of the
words and phrases involved; the news medium does not.
If the court decides the material can be understood as
libelous by the public, the publisher involved has no
LIBEL PER QUOD
The second type of libel is committed by inference
and is more hidden. Its legal term, libel per quod,
means because of circumstance or by means of
circumstance. In libel per quod, the statements, words
or phrases involved maybe harmless in themselves, but
become libelous because of attached circumstances.
Usually, such circumstances are unforeseen by the
publisher, who can claim that the questionable material
was published in good faith and without malice.
However, good faith is not a complete defense.
Here is a classic example of libel by circumstance:
A news story reported an athletes spectacular feats on
the tennis court the previous Saturday. In fact, the tennis
match was on Friday, not Saturday; a simple error.
However, the story was libelous per quod because the