Thursday, March 14, 2019

Supreme court rules for journalists
The Tennessee Supreme Court handed down a ruling Wednesday, that protects the right of journalists to report the news. The high court ruled that the fair report privilege, provided to journalists, cannot be defeated by alleged malice. The decision came in an appeal arising out of a defamation lawsuit. A Nashville news outlet broadcast news reports about a lawsuit that Nashville developer David Chase had filed in state court in which he claimed that certain members of Nashville law enforcement had plotted together to have him unjustly prosecuted. After the reports aired, the prosecutor in the case, sued the media outlet, claiming that he had been defamed. The station denied the claim, pointing to a legal doctrine called the fair report privilege. It allows any person or organization to report on official acts and proceedings and protects them from defamation claims so long as the reports of official acts and proceedings are fair and accurate. The Supreme Court explained that, so long as reports of official acts and proceedings are fair and accurate, the fair report privilege for the media applies.


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Thursday, April 29, 2021

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