Jury rules in favour of NYT in Sarah Palin defamation case

A federal jury in Manhattan has once again ruled that the New York Times is not responsible for defaming Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial. It is the second straight courtroom defeat for the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate.

Palin, 61, had sued the newspaper and its then-editorial page editor, James Bennet, for an opinion column published on June 14, 2017.

The piece had falsely stated that her political action committee’s map could have inspired a mass shooting in Arizona in 2011, when six were killed and Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was gravely wounded.

MISTAKE UNDER DEADLINE PRESSURE

James Bennet, who edited the article, admitted that he had included the controversial connection between Palin’s map and the shooting under tight deadlines. The editorial, America’s Lethal Politics, implied a link between political violence and the tragic incident.

However, the Times quickly accepted their mistake and released a correction in just 14 hours after their piece was published on their website. The correction had clarified that they found no indication of linking Palin’s political map with the shooting.

But even then, Palin’s attorneys were adamant that this was insufficient and came from nowhere when the statement failed to specify Palin’s name. The attorneys accused the blunder of transcending oversight but having a direct, real, hurtful impact upon her reputation.

During closing arguments, Times lawyer Felicia Ellsworth stated Palin, being a public figure herself, had a high threshold to clear in establishing defamation.

“To win this case, Governor Palin needs to prove that the New York Times and James Bennet did not care about the truth,” Ellsworth said. “There has not been one shred of evidence showing anything other than an honest mistake.”

Palin’s lawyer, Ken Turkel, disagreed.

“This is not an honest mistake about a passing reference,” Turkel said. “For her, it was a life-changer.”

Palin had already lost this case once in 2022, but the ruling was reversed by a federal appeals court because of mistakes committed by the trial judge. The case was retried, resulting in the most recent jury verdict in favour of the Times.

Sarah Palin served as governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009 and gained national fame when she was chosen as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election. They lost the race to Democrat Barack Obama.

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