Could lawsuits meant to curb disinformation hurt press freedom?

Libel laws and the First Amendment in the United States are meant to hit a sweet spot — protecting reputations and facts while also affording journalists the freedom to publish unflattering information about powerful people that the public needs to know. But disinformation is increasingly threatening that balance.

In this episode, law professor RonNell Andersen Jones explains what could be at risk. “If it's too easy for somebody to sue for defamation over a falsehood, then powerful people will hold that over everybody's head and threaten to sue their critics and will silence a lot of conversation that we ought to be having," she said.

Jones is a Distinguished Professor and Teitelbaum Chair in Law at the University of Utah and an Affiliated Fellow at Yale Law School's Information Society Project. A former newspaper reporter and editor, Jones is a First Amendment scholar who now teaches, researches and writes on legal issues affecting the press and on the intersection between media and the courts.

Listen to the conversation to learn more.

Additional Reading:

• The "Actual Malice" Standard Explained, Protect Democracy
• Supreme Court Puts First Amendment Limits on Laws Banning Online Threats, The New York Times
• The Multibillion Dollar Defamation Lawsuits Against Fox News, Explained, Vox
• Dominion CEO Predicts 'Business Ultimately Goes to Zero' Because of 2020 Election Lies, TIME.com

Is that a fact? is a production of the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit building a national movement to create a more news-literate America. Our host is Darragh Worland, our producer is Mike Webb, our editor is Timothy Kramer, and our theme music is by Eryn Busch.