Are News Reports Offered as Factual Assertions?
Sacramento Kings center Richaun Holmes is suing his ex-wife, Allexis Holmes, the Sacramento Bee, and one of its opinion writers, Robin Epley, for defamation. In the course of a custody battle, Allexis made allegations of abuse against Richaun, which were reported and opined on by the Sacramento Bee. Richaun claims the publication damaged his reputation.
The case illustrates an important aspect of defamation claims. Namely, when a newspaper reports what someone else has said, is it liable if the statements are false?
Let’s begin our analysis with the elements of defamation:
The elements of defamation are “(a) a publication that is (b) false, (c) defamatory, and (d) unprivileged, and that (e) has a natural tendency to injure or that causes special damage.” (Taus v. Loftus (2007) 40 Cal.4th 683, 720.) “Publication means communication to some third person who understands the defamatory meaning of the statement and its application to the person to whom reference is made. Publication need not be to the ‘public’ at large; communication to a single individual is sufficient.” (Smith v. Maldonado (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 637, 645.)
Sanchez v. Bezos, 80 Cal. App. 5th 750, 763 (2022).
“We apply a ‘totality of the circumstances’ test to determine whether a statement is fact or opinion, and whether a statement declares or implies a provably false factual assertion; that is, courts look to the words of the statement itself and the context in which the statement was made.” (Ibid.) Under this test, “[f]irst, the language of the statement is examined. For words to be defamatory, they must be understood in a defamatory sense …. Next, the context in which the statement was made must be considered.” Whether challenged statements convey the requisite factual imputation is ordinarily a question of law for the court.” Balla v. Hall, 59 Cal. App. 5th 652, 678 (2021).
In my never to be humble opinion, a report by a news outlet almost never implies the truth of the statements it is making. Unless the reporter is reporting something he or she saw, how could anyone take the statements as anything other than hearsay? Continue reading
