The Raleigh News & Observer lost a multi-million dollar libel lawsuit brought by a forensic firearms expert for the State Bureau of Investigation. A 2010 article reported that firearms experts alleged the Beth Desmond faked evidence in a murder conviction in 2006. The newspaper plans to appeal. (Burlington Times News, October 20, 2016, by the Associated Press)
The jury determined that the reporter failed to accurately paraphrase and quote the sources critical of Desmond. The jurors found that six statements in question were materially false in that the sources didn’t make the statements reported. The jurors also found that the reporter knew the statements were false or had doubts about their veracity. (Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog, October 26, 2016, by Mathew R. Arnold, Esq.)
Desmond’s lawyers used internal e-mails acquired in discovery to demonstrate that the reporter was more interested in nailing Desmond and creating a sensational story than in reporting the truth. Reporters are rethinking the advisability of leaving an e-mail trail about their reporting process knowing that statements could be taken out of context; that in the heat of battle there could be ill-advised statements; and that lots of hypotheses could be tired out that would be jettisoned. (Columbia Journalism Review, October 25, 2016, by Corey Hutchins)