A federal judge ruled that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin earned a trial in submitting enough evidence of actual malice in an editorial on gun violence in The New York Times. Palin did fail in her attempt to overturn the actual malice standard. (The Hollywood Reporter, August 28,2020, by Eriq Gardner)
The Times admitted to a mistake in the editorial but held that it was not published with reckless disregard for the truth. The editorial implied there was a link between the shootings in Arizona of Representative Gabby Gifford that wounded her and killed six adults and one child and a target map from Palin’s political action committee that referred to electoral districts, not individual candidates. The Times later published a correction. (The Washington Post, August 31, 2020, by Erik Wemple)