LIBEL AND SLANDER-CLASSIFICATION OF DEFAMATORY BROADCASTS FROM A PREPARED SCRIPT

Authors

Robert L. Cardon S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

In an action for libel or slander, plaintiff's complaint alleged that defendant, a radio commentator, broadcast from a prepared script a charge that plaintiff was the leader of a movement which favored peace because Germany was losing the war and blamed the United States for killing children in Europe and Asia. Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint; held, that the complaint stated a good cause of action. Since the remarks complained of were not defamatory per se, the court considered the decision as turning on whether they constituted libel or slander and held that they were libelous, distinguishing a previous New York case which reached the opposite conclusion as to extemporaneous broadcasts. Hartmann v. Winchell, 187 Misc. 54, 63 N.Y.S. (2d) 225 (1946).

Recommended Citation

Robert L. Cardon S.Ed., LIBEL AND SLANDER-CLASSIFICATION OF DEFAMATORY BROADCASTS FROM A PREPARED SCRIPT, 45 Mich. L. Rev. 644 (1947).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol45/iss5/18