Libel, Slander and Character Assassination

The one law in media class I took in college taught that the truth, if you can prove it, is a defense against a libel suit.

Which means if you want to write that J.Lo has a big butt, write away. Publish. Big headlines. Take out ads if you want, although, heaven knows why you'd want to spend money just to say something everyone already knows. After all, it is true, perhaps not by aboriginal standards, but all you really have to do is whip out all the fashion and beauty ads in all the fashion and beauty magazines, and there you are. No libel suit there.

Writing that K-Fed is a loser may be a bit harder, because you'll have to prove it, which might mean hours and hours of billable time for lawyers. Besides, if you career is not going as well as his, or if your wife isn't as hot or as rich as his, then you're the loser, which means that the other guy is the winner. Someone has to be.

Slander, on the other hand, does not necessarily have to be factually untrue to be slander. All that is needed is that it be oral, with malicious intent, perhaps a twisting of the facts aimed at damaging the subject's reputation. If you yell out, "Hey, you S.O.B.!" to someone on the street, you could, theoretically be sued for slander, even if that person's mother is indeed a B**** or not.

Character assassination is similar to slander, but it's something of a misnomer, I think. After all, it isn't your character that dies when others try to assassinate it. All that does is reveal a definite lack of it in those rumormongers and gossips and slanderers and namecallers. No amount of gossip can kill your character if it's there and alive. Unless, of course, you decide to just have it lay down and die, in which case, it's suicide.

But that's only my opinion.