Journalism, Libel, and Political Messaging in America - UConn's Expert Weighs in

Mar 15, 2022

3 min

Amanda J. Crawford

Former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn't cause the deadly 2011 shooting in Tuscon, Arizona, that injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, says former journalist and UConn expert Amanda Crawford in a new essay for Nieman Reports



Palin is asking for a new trial after a jury in February rejected her libel lawsuit against the New York Times. Palin sued the newspaper after it published a 2017 editorial that erroneously claimed she was responsible for the shooting. The Times quickly issued a correction. 


But Crawford says that, in her opinion, Palin has contributed to increased vitriol in American politics today, and that libel laws protecting freedom of the press need to be guarded:


Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee known for her gun-toting right-wing invective, is now asking for a new trial in the case that hinges on an error in a 2017 Times editorial, “America’s Lethal Politics.” The piece, which bemoaned the viciousness of political discourse and pondered links to acts of violence, was published after a man who had supported Sen. Bernie Sanders opened fire at congressional Republicans’ baseball practice, injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

The Times editorial noted that Palin’s political action committee published a campaign map in 2010 that used a graphic resembling the crosshairs of a rifle’s scope to mark targeted districts. It incorrectly drew a link between the map and the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Democratic incumbent in one of those districts, while she was at a constituent event in a grocery store parking lot in Tucson less than a year later.

I was a political reporter in Arizona at the time, and I remember how Giffords herself had warned that the map could incite violence. “We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” she said in a 2010 interview, according to The Washington Post, “but the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district, and when people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action.”

In the wake of the mass shooting in Tucson, some officials and members of the media suggested that political rhetoric, including Palin’s, may be to blame. In fact, no link between the campaign map and the shooting was ever established. As the judge said, the shooter’s own mental illness was to blame. That is where the Times blundered. An editor inserted language that said, “the link to political incitement was clear.” (The Times promptly issued a correction.) This was an egregious mistake and the product of sloppy journalism, but both the judge and the jury agreed that it was not done with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth. That’s the standard that a public figure like Palin must meet because of the precedent set in the Sullivan case and subsequent decisions.

Even if Palin is granted a new trial and loses again, she is likely to appeal. Her lawsuit is part of a concerted effort by critics of the “lamestream media,” including former President Donald Trump, to change the libel standard to make it easier for political figures to sue journalists and win judgments for unintentional mistakes. They want to inhibit free debate and make it harder for journalists to hold them accountable. -- Nieman Reports, March 14, 2022



If you are a reporter who is interested in covering this topic, or who would like to discuss the intersection between politics and media, let us help.


Amanda Crawford is a veteran political reporter, literary journalist, and expert in journalism ethics, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the First Amendment. Click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.

Connect with:
Amanda J. Crawford

Amanda J. Crawford

Assistant Professor

Professor Crawford is a veteran political reporter, literary journalist, and expert in journalism ethics and misinformation.

Literary JournalismMediaNews LiteracyMisinformationJournalism Ethics

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from University of Connecticut

3 min

#Expert Opinion: 'Gun laws need an overhaul'

In the aftermath of last week's school shooting in Georgia, Jennifer Necci Dineen and Kerri M. Raissian from UConn’s ARMS Center contributed this compelling piece to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The entirety of the article is available here: On Sept. 4, the United States experienced its 45th school shooting of 2024, this time at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith called the shooting “pure evil” and reported the suspected shooter would be tried as an adult. Since then, the shooter’s father has also been charged. A criminal justice response is vital, but it cannot be our only response. Gun laws need an overhaul. The failure to do so means that we will continue charging shooters and their families and attending the funerals of those senselessly killed. Laws are the role of government. Should elected officials fail to act (again), we think it is also fair to hold them responsible for the firearm violence killing our nation’s children. Georgia lawmakers have passed legislation to protect children in other ways. Georgia requires that children be at least 16 years old and to have held a learner’s permit for a year before they can drive: minors under 16 cannot be employed in dangerous or harmful jobs; and those under 17 cannot marry. These restrictions recognize that children’s prefrontal cortex, the part of their brain responsible for reasoning, impulse control and decision-making, is not yet fully formed. Yet, despite firearms being the leading cause of death for children in the United States, Georgia has minimal regulations governing children’s firearm access. There is no minimum age for purchasing or possessing rifles or shotguns, no permit required for carrying firearms in public (whether open or concealed) and no mandate for secure firearm storage (such as unloading, locking and storing ammunition separately). Details of the shooting in Winder continue to emerge, but let’s start with what we know. Reports indicate that the shooter and his father were questioned by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in May 2023 following multiple anonymous tips about online threats, including images of guns. The suspect’s father claimed that his child did not have unfettered access to the guns. The authorities did not have probable cause for an arrest, and so they left and the guns stayed. And, in fact, the father bought his son a new gun — an AR-15 — as a Christmas present. Perhaps more disturbing is that this kind of negligence and indifference is not an anomaly. A similar set of facts surround the Nashville Waffle House shooter and the Michigan Oxford High School Shooter. In both cases, parents ignored warning signs and helped their sons keep or procure firearms that were used in mass shootings. Moreover, almost three-quarters of guns used in gun-related incidents at schools come from the home or someone the shooter knows. It’s fair to ask: Where are the parents? However, we also want to know where are the elected officials charged with keeping us and our children safe when they are at school, the movies, a parade or otherwise living their lives? Laws mandating secure firearm storage, permitting, minimum age requirements and background checks have been proven to lower firearm homicide rates. Emergency risk protection orders, or red-flag laws, which temporarily prevent individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others from possessing or purchasing firearms, have also been effective in reducing firearm homicides. Georgia’s failure to implement such regulations, allowing a child with underdeveloped decision-making skills to access a gun, means the state shares the blame for the gun-related injuries and deaths at Apalachee High School. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is right. It’s not the time to “talk about safety and policy.” The time was years ago, but it’s never too late to do the right thing. Kerri Raissian is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut; director of the University of Connecticut's UConn’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship (ARMS) in Gun Violence Prevention; and co-director of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) Gun Violence Prevention Research Interest Group. Her research focuses on child and family policy, with an emphasis on understanding how policies affect fertility, family formation, and family violence. She is available to speak to media about this important topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.

2 min

Watching the solar eclipse Monday? Our expert has advice on how to do it safely

It's being called a "once in a lifetime" opportunity - and Monday's solar eclipse has almost everybody on the continent talking as well as planning and preparing to get a glimpse of this rare astronomical moment. Amid the excitement is a need for people to view the event safely, which is why NBC Connecticut recently caught up with UConn Associate Professor of Physics Jonathan Trump to explain what's happening and, if you're going to be gazing upwards, what you need to know and how to do it without getting hurt. An astronomical celebration is just around the corner. But if you want to see the solar eclipse for yourself, there are steps you need to take to do so safely. First and foremost: to watch this out-of-this-world display April 8, don’t even think about looking right at the sun. “Most important thing, do not look directly at the solar eclipse with your eyes,” said UConn associate professor of physics Jonathan Trump. “Here in Connecticut the eclipse will be about 90% which is pretty spectacular, but even 10% of the sun’s light is a lot of the sun’s light.” UConn is one of many organizations around the state holding a celebration and viewing event. “The next one is not going to be for another 20 years, so yeah this is a special event,” said Trump. Sunglasses aren’t strong enough to protect your retinas from these UV rays. “The ultraviolet light is what give us sunburns and it can severely damage the retina in the back of your eye and permanently scar your vision. So do not look directly at the sun,” said Trump. You can view the solar eclipse safely with certified solar eclipse glasses. If you wear eyeglasses, put the solar eclipse glasses on top of your glasses. And if you have solar eclipse glasses from the last phenomena visible stateside, which was seven years ago, you should get a new pair. Experts we spoke to say they have no more than a three-year shelf life.  Looking to know more?  Jonathan Trump is an observational astronomer and is available to speak with reporters about Monday's eclipse. Simply click on his icon now to arrange a time to talk today.

2 min

What Families Need to Know about How to Safely Store Firearms at Home

Guns have been identified as the leading cause of death for children in the United States, making ongoing discussions about firearm safety especially important. Kerri Raissian, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut, and Jennifer Necci Dineen, associate director of the ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention, recently co-authored an very important piece for The Conversation titled detailing what families need to know about safely storing firearms at home.  There were 2,571 children age 1 to 17 who died in shootings in the U.S. in 2021, 68% more than the 1,531 that occurred in 2000. To help reduce the number of firearm-related deaths and injuries among children, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in January 2024 called upon school and district administrators to talk with parents and guardians about safe firearm storage practices. As experts on the safe storage of firearms – and as leaders of the University of Connecticut’s ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention – we often get questions about the best ways to keep guns out of the hands of children. We offer the following tips: 1: Safely store all of your firearms 2. Don’t assume you can hide your guns 3. Store ammunition separately 4. Learn to talk about firearm safety 5. Know the law 6. Invest in a quality safe and/or locking device The full piece is available here from The Conversation. Kerri Raissian is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, director of the University of Connecticut's UConn’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship (ARMS) in Gun Violence Prevention, and co-director of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) Gun Violence Prevention Research Interest Group. Her research focuses on child and family policy, with an emphasis on understanding how policies affect fertility, family formation, and family violence. She is available to speak to media about this important topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.

View all posts