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New York Times V. Sullivan

 

            
             In the 60s, when segregation and racism ruled the south, efforts where put forth to abolish that way of life. The Civil Right Movement brought about the voices of change. African Americans were not going to put up with unfair laws and fought for equal rights. Marches, protesting, and demonstrations took place in the South, while in the North many people were not fully aware of what was taking place because the lack of news coverage. .
             March 29, 1960, The New York Times ran an editorial advertisement placed by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South, headlined, "Heed Their Rising Voices."" The advertisement was signed by many prominent figures, including four Ministers. The advertisement illustrated "the wave of terror,"" brought upon African Americans by those who would not permit their right to freedom and equal rights in Montgomery Alabama. It mentioned the brutalities of the police officers and abuses inflicted on demonstrators. .
             Of the 650,000 circulated, 350 went to Montgomery, Alabama. A reporter, Cleveland Hall Jr. wrote an editorial about the advertisement in the Alabama Journal, misstatements and errors. There was no proof that students were padlocked in the dining hall in an attempt to be forced into submission, he stated in his editorial among other falsities in The New York Times ad.
             L.B. Sullivan, the City Commissioner of Montgomery, filed a libel action in the Circuit Court of the Montgomery County. Sullivan felt that in 3rd and 6th paragraph of the advertisement mention of "police- and "they- implied him. He felt that it tarred his reputation and libeled him. He sued The New York Times, along with the four ministers for half-million dollars. The New York Times appealed and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The majority was in favor of the New York Times. Sullivan lost because he could not prove actual malice.


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