MC 4163 SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE:
Falsity, Damages, Oklahoma Retraction Statutes, Veggie Libel and Criminal Libel
Know and understand the definitions and rules in general and how they are applied in Oklahoma. Be able to correctly recognize and apply them in hypothetical situations.
- Falsity
- Which specific plaintiffs must prove falsity?
- What is a matter of public concern? How is it determined?
- What is meant by substantial truth? Do minor inaccuracies or omissions destroy the truthfulness of a statement? Why? Can a detail be just as libelous as a major assertion? Why?
- Is falsity based on what the article said or on what the reporter meant?
- How does a jury evaluate the truth of an allegation?
- How can a story with only true statements be considered false?
- Does accurately quoting someone mean the journalist reported a truthful statement? In other words, are accuracy and the truth the same thing?
- Damages
- Compensatory Damages are intended to do what?
- What are actual damages for?
- To collect actual damages, what level of fault must the different plaintiff categories prove in Oklahoma?
- What are special damages for?
- Under which category of defamatory content must the plaintiff be able to prove special damages to win in Oklahoma?
- To collect special damages, the plaintiff must be able to establish what in Oklahoma?
- What are punitive damages intended to do?
- To collect punitive damages, what level of fault must the different plaintiff categories prove in Oklahoma?
- Which private figures are required to prove actual malice to collect punitive damages in Oklahoma?
- Retraction Statutes
- Oklahoma's Retraction Statutes
- What are the requirements?
- How do they affect the damages that the plaintiff could win?
- When do they not apply?
- Under what circumstances are broadcast stations in Oklahoma liable for libelous statements made over the air? Under what circumstances are they not held liable?
- Preserving political utterances: What are Oklahoma stations required to do? For how long? To whom must the recordings be made available?
- Veggie Libel
Know the definitions and rules.
- Which lawsuit prompted the creation of veggie libel law
- Oklahoma's veggie libel statute:
- What are the elements?
- According to legislators, why was the statute necessary?
- What do critics say about veggie libel statutes?
- Has Oklahoma's statute been used by a plaintiff?
- Oprah Winfrey case: Texas Beef Group v. Winfrey, 11 F. Supp. 2d 858 (1998)
- How do the statutes in Texas and Oklahoma differ?
- What were U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson 's ruling and reasoning? Would they be applicable to Oklahoma's statute?
- Did the Oprah Winfrey case test the constitutionality of veggie libel statutes? Explain.
- Criminal Libel
Know the definitions and rules.
- Criminal libel is based on what premise?
- How many states still have criminal libel laws?
- How does criminal libel differ from civil libel?
- According to Gregory C. Lisby, what is the purpose of criminal libel statutes?
- How did criminal libel differ from civil libel when the colonists brought the legal concepts to America?
- Under Oklahoma's constitution and criminal libel statute, when is truth a defense?
- What are the penalties for committing criminal libel in Oklahoma?
- Were prosecutions for criminal libel common in the early 1900s in Oklahoma? Are they common today?
- In Garrison v. Louisiana (1964), how did the U.S. Supreme Court deal a blow to criminal libel prosecutions?
- What was the court's reasoning? (boil it down)
- According to the court, how important is speech concerning public affairs?
- What was the reasoning of the drafters of the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code when they excluded criminal libel? (boil it down)
- Understand Lisby's criticism of the Garrison decision. Use concrete examples to explain whether the criticism is justified.
- What are Lisby's five reasons that criminal libel should no longer be on the books?
- According to Paul K. McMasters, what is threatened by criminal libel?
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