By: Joel Davis Rare Case Of Criminal Defamation To Be Tried
The publisher and editor of a free Kansas City, Kan., newspaper have been
arrested on a rare charge of criminal defamation for their pointed articles on
an area politician.
Wyandotte County, Kan., District Attorney Nick Tomasic on March 1 filed
misdemeanor charges of criminal defamation against New Observer Publisher
David Carson and Editor Edward H. Powers Jr. The two turned themselves in to the
Sheriff's Department, where they posted $1,000 bonds. Their first court
appearance was set for April 10.
While criminal libel is rare, it is still punishable in several states,
including Kansas. "Criminal libel is a very antiquated notion," said Lucy
Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Arlington, Va.
"There really haven't been any prosecutions since the turn of the 20th century
... It's been a very long time since a criminal libel case has gone against the
media and been upheld."
In the Kansas City case, the district attorney charges that The New
Observer, a politically oriented alternative publication that is usually
published and distributed prior to elections, knowingly printed a falsehood
about Unified Government Mayor Carol Marinovich, whose position is akin to being
mayor of both Kansas City and Wyandotte County.
The charges allege that The New Observer more than once printed that
Marinovich and her husband, District Court Judge Ernest Johnson, are not
actually residents of Wyandotte County. In order to successfully prosecute
Powers and Carson, the district attorney will have to prove that they knowingly
printed a falsehood under the actual malice standard set in the landmark 1964
Times vs. Sullivan case, Dalglish said.
The New Observer's Web site (http://www.thenewobserver.com) blasted
Tomasic over the charges: "Exercising the First Amendment right of free press is
not a crime - it is a constitutional right!"
Dalglish said The New Observer is one of three criminal libel cases
currently active in the U.S., though she said the other two do not involve
newspapers or media companies. In Alabama, a politician is alleging that an
opponent libeled him; a Utah case involves a high school student's Web site
critical of a teacher.
Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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