Kristen Powers, USA TODAY, August 16, 2016, writes that Donald Trump is confused in claiming that a New York Times article about him was not free press since it was “completely false.” Powers quotes a First Amendment lawyer, Ken White, who refuted Trump, “Political arguments, characterizations, opinions based on disclosed facts, and interpretations can’t be ‘false’ for First Amendment purposes.”
Michael McGough, Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2016, also writes that Trump was wrong in his characterization of the Times article, but before 1964 and the Supreme Court case Times v. Sullivan, the press could not print false information that damaged reputations. The court changed that, Justice William Brennan writing for the majority, “Erroneous statement is inevitable in free debate, and it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the breathing space that they need . . . to survive.” Both Powers and McGough noted the irony that Trump had no problem with news outlets publishing his patently false statements including the assertions about Obama’s lack of a birth certificate and his religious affiliation.