South Carolina Appeals Court Ruling Outlines Libel Law Principles

My November column for the South Carolina Press Association:

On Nov. 6, a three-judge panel of the South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the former owner of the Charleston City Paper in a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper over two editorial columns about a football team’s pre-game ritual that some considered racist. While the appellate court’s decision is not too surprising, it does illuminate several well-established principles of libel law in South Carolina that should be known by writers, journalists and editors here.

When perceived libel gets deadly

My July column for the South Carolina Press Association:

Sixth Circuit Finally Ends the Chill

In 2012, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a lawsuit against a web site over comments posted by users to proceed to trial. Now the same court has held that a federal law bars such suits, a position that it rejected two years ago.

Sixth Circuit's "Dirty" Decision Sends a Chill

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
Let's start with the following premise: thedirty.com is a tasteless website. In addition to a bit of celebrity gossip and paparazzi-type pictures, the site also invites anyone to post pictures – often revealing, embarrassing, or insulting – of others for comment by users and, sometimes, the site's proprietor.