“But over time the actual malice standard has evolved from a h | James O'Keefe

“But over time the actual malice standard has evolved from a high bar to recovery into an effective immunity from liability…. It seems that publishing without inves- tigation, fact-checking, or editing has become the optimal legal strategy. See id., at 778–779. Under the actual malice regime as it has evolved, “ignorance is bliss.” Id., at 778. Combine this legal incentive with the business incentives fostered by our new media world and the deck seems stacked against those with traditional (and expensive) jour- nalistic standards—and in favor of those who can dissemi-nate the most sensational information as efficiently as pos- sible without any particular concern for truth. See ibid. What started in 1964 with a decision to tolerate the occa- sional falsehood to ensure robust reporting by a compara- tive handful of print and broadcast outlets has evolved into an ironclad subsidy for the publication of falsehoods by means and on a scale previously unimaginable. As Sullivan’s actual malice standard has come to apply in our new world, it’s hard not to ask whether it now even “cut[s] against the very values underlying the decision.”


The above speaks to how rare of a win it is that we prevailed on Motion to Dismiss in PV v NYT, and why the NYT is proudly proclaiming they did not ask for comment in our case.