After reading the section of Chapter 7 on Libel, I had a couple of thoughts on it. I understand what Libel is for the most part, but I'm wondering to what extent a liable suit can be made for it. Suppose a journalist prints a direct quote from someone that defames someone else; can the defamed group or individual make a case for libel against the journalist for printing the quote? Or would he or she have to file a suit against the quoted individual?
Or what if a journalist receives false information from a source that he or she thought was reliable? Could he or she potentially use this as a defense in a libel suit, or would the judge rule that the journalist should have done better fact checking?
Scenarios similar to this were discussed in the "Print it or Pull it?" section in the chapter, but no direct answer was given.
Either way, I'm glad I now have a more extensive knowledge of what libel is and how to avoid it.
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