By Corinne Ramey and Isabella Simonetti

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's defamation claims against the New York Times have already played out before a jury once. But as a retrial in the case begins Monday, the legal landscape for the media industry is far more fraught.

Trust in mainstream news outlets has eroded in the years since Palin filed her lawsuit in 2017, and major media organizations, including Disney's ABC News and Warner Bros. Discovery's CNN, have faced high-profile defamation claims. Some settled. Others take their chance at trial, arguing the stakes for press freedom are too high to back down.

The Times has opted for years to contest Palin's allegations that the newspaper and its former editor, James Bennet, defamed her in a 2017 editorial about gun violence.

"This is truly the case that will not die," said Sonja West, a University of Georgia law professor. "Every time it rises from the ashes, the risk to the First Amendment's protections for the press rises back with it."

This week's retrial will be a test of how today's jurors will weigh the same facts in a climate of frequent press criticism, including from President Trump. Palin, a former GOP vice presidential candidate, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

The case first went to trial in 2022, and a New York jury sided with the Times. While the jury deliberated, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff made the unusual move of saying he planned to dismiss the case because Palin failed to establish the Times acted with actual malice, the legal standard for public officials.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ordered a new trial, saying that Rakoff acted improperly in announcing his intentions during deliberations. Some jurors later acknowledged they saw news about his decision on their phones but said they weren't influenced by them.

The editorial at issue wrongly suggested that an ad circulated by Palin's political-action committee inspired a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., during which six people were killed and others seriously injured -- including Gabby Giffords, a Democratic House member at the time. "The link to political incitement was clear," the original version of the editorial read.

The Times subsequently issued corrections online, in print and on social media, saying no link had been established between the shooting and political rhetoric.

At this week's trial, Palin's lawyers plan to argue that when Bennet connected Palin with Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner, he acted with actual malice, meaning Bennet either knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Her lawyers say the paper's corrections weren't sufficient.

"Asserting that Gov. Palin 'incited' Loughner's shooting subjected her to hatred, ridicule, and disgrace, charged her with committing a serious crime, and tended to injure her in her trade and profession," her lawyers wrote in a court filing.

Lawyers for Bennet and the New York Times will argue that the article used the word "incitement" in a broad sense.

"This case revolves around a passing reference to an event in an editorial that was not about Sarah Palin," a Times spokesman said. "That reference was an unintended error, and quickly corrected."

Late last year, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle Trump's defamation lawsuit against the network and star anchor George Stephanopoulos. While many ABC journalists were frustrated by the settlement, Disney decided that it was facing a tough court battle in Florida that could have long-term consequences for press freedom, The Journal previously reported.

CNN settled a defamation lawsuit in January, after a Florida jury found the network liable for defaming a U.S. Navy veteran in a segment about evacuation work in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, there is a defamation trial scheduled later this month in a case against Newsmax, related to its coverage of the 2020 presidential election result.

Fox in 2023 agreed to a $787.5 million settlement in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit alleging the network defamed the voting-machine company after that election.

Fox News parent Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.

"We're in a libel lawsuit epidemic at this point," said Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota. "The news media, particularly the legacy media, are not enjoying a lot of respect and support."

Write to Corinne Ramey at corinne.ramey@wsj.com and Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2025 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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