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Ross, Susan Dente. Deciding Communication Law: Key Cases in Context.(Book review)
- Article from:
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Communication Research Trends
- Article date:
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June 1, 2008
- Author:
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2008 Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Ross, Susan Dente. Deciding Communication Law: Key Cases in Context. Mahwah, NJ, Alabama: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2004. Pp. xiv, 619. ISBN: 0-8058-4698-0 (hbk.) $80.00.
Modern libel law rests upon a wobbly 1964 precedent: in New York Times v. Sullivan the Supreme Court, in effect, decreed it's permissible to get the facts wrong as long as your heart is pure. To succor the civil rights movement, the Court shredded the centuries old "to the marrow" proof for truth, thus transcending the particulars of an Alabama city official's grievance against a Yankee newspaper.
"Heed Their Rising Voices," a fund-raising ad for Martin Luther King, Jr., carried a handful of ...