Latham & Watkins Forum—Defamation Lawfare: Reputation, Retribution, and Press Freedom

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Guardians of press freedom have pointed to troubling trends in recent years. Defamation lawsuits are not only growing in number but are also increasingly employing forum shopping, naming individual reporters as defendants, and seeking to impose crippling costs on political rivals: defamation lawfare. At the same time, influential voices (including some Supreme Court justices) have called for reassessing constitutional protections for the press dating back to New York Times v. Sullivan. The media landscape has completely transformed since that ruling, especially with the rise of social media platforms, which are mostly insulated from defamation claims by statute. In this new environment, how should the law secure press freedom while protecting against reputational harm? Are concerns that the Court grappled with in Sullivan different today in degree or in kind? What would be the consequences of holding social media companies more accountable? At this Forum, a group of experts with a range of experiences and perspectives will address these issues.

• Elissa Cohen, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Vox Media
• David McCraw, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, New York Times
• Megan Meier, Founding Partner, Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch
• Burt Neuborne, Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties Emeritus, NYU Law

Moderator

• Jud Campbell, Visiting Professor of Law, NYU Law; Professor of Law, Stanford Law School