Jury Sides with New York Times in Sarah Palin Defamation Case

A jury concluded on Tuesday that The New York Times did not defame former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial. The editorial contained an error that Palin claimed had damaged her reputation. The jury deliberated for just over two hours before reaching its verdict.

Palin was seen leaving the courthouse, appearing subdued. She told reporters that she was looking forward to returning home to her family. Later, she posted on social media that she intended to continue urging the press to stop fabricating information.

publishers are not liable for honest mistakes. Palin, who holds a journalism degree, had sued the Times for unspecified damages in 2017, approximately a decade after she gained national prominence as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

The lawsuit originated from an editorial concerning gun control, published after a 2017 shooting targeting a Congressional baseball team practice. The Times' editorial had incorrectly linked Palin's political action committee to an atmosphere of violence. The newspaper corrected the article within 14 hours of its publication.

During the trial, the former Times editorial page editor, James Bennet, offered a tearful apology to Palin, expressing his distress over the error. Palin testified that she experienced an increase in death threats and a decline in her spirits following the editorial's publication.

In his closing argument, Palin's attorney urged the jury to find the Times liable for defamation, arguing that Bennet either knew the information was false or acted with "reckless disregard" for the truth. He requested the jury award Palin compensatory damages for the harm to her reputation and mental anguish.

The attorney for The Times argued that there was no evidence of anything other than an honest mistake. She highlighted the newspaper's swift correction of the error and the consistent testimony of Times editors regarding their efforts to ensure accuracy.