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1. Which of the following was not a reason the Supreme Court used to justify its ruling against L.B. Sullivan in
his libel suit against The New York Times?
2. A publication could be regarded as exhibiting actual malice if it published material
3. Some courts have used three criteria suggested by the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether a reporter or
editor exhibited reckless disregard for the truth. Which of the following is not one of these three?
4. Which of the following businesses would most likely to be regarded as a public figure in a libel case?
5. In the 1967 ruling in AP v. Walker, Curtis v. Butts, the Supreme Court laid down a test for
6. A reporter who deliberately alters a direct quote from a news source may be guilty of actual malice if
7. Bootstrapping in libel law occurs when
8. In determining whether an individual is a limited purpose public figure for purposes of a libel action, a court
will consider
9. In which of the following situations would an individual most likely be deemed to be a public official in a
libel suit?
10. Most judges tend to focus on one of the four elements of the tort of intentional infliction of emotional
distress when evaluating a defendant’s actions. It is
11. What are the criteria for a limited-purpose public figure?
12. Distinguish between negligence and actual malice.
Negligence has been generally defined as the failure to exercise reasonable care. Actual malice requires proof of
a far higher level of misbehavior on the defendant’s part. Evidence that the material was published even though
13. A plaintiff must only prove that a story has serious errors to prove actual malice.
14. An individual can be regarded as an all-purpose public figure if he or she is well known nationally, or well
known exclusively in the geographic area (such a state or city) in which the libel was circulated.
15. Once a person is considered a public figure for purposes of a libel suit, he or she will always be regarded as
a public figure in future libel cases, regardless of the subject matter of the subsequent libelous publication.
16. All elected government employees are regarded as public officials.
17. Individuals whose actions inadvertently or innocently push them into a public controversy are rarely
regarded as public figures.
18. Lower courts have consistently ruled that persons married to or closely associated with public persons are
also public persons for the purposes of libel action.
19. In libel law, a public controversy is defined as a controversy in which the resolution of the issues will affect
a larger group of persons than those involved in the controversy.
20. The New York Times rule was generated by a lawsuit stemming from the Bush-era invasion of Iraq.
21. Whether or not a reporter sought a comment from the subject of a libelous story will always be a critical
factor in determining actual malice.
22. A business regulated by the government is always regarded as a public figure.
