Billionaires, Libel, & the Future of Journalism
On the Media | Dec 9, 2016
During his campaign, now-President-elect Trump threatened to “open up" our libel laws. Given that law is made by legislatures and the courts, not the President, it was a mainly empty threat -- but not to be altogether dismissed.
In recent years, libel laws have been weaponized by billionaires who combine their deep pockets with public contempt for the press to exploit weaknesses in otherwise ironclad First Amendment protections. And fighting those cases can be ruinously, even fatally, expensive.
Bob speaks with New York Times Magazine staff writer Emily Bazelon, who recently wrote a piece called “Billionaires vs the Press in the Era of Trump.”
Songs:
Frail As Breeze - Erik Friedlander
