Abstract

Paper Chase - II

The author asks that how does a self-described free speecher help the cause by bringing libel charges against the one American newspaper that considers the First Amendment a personal bequest from the Framers? Respect for the facts of the writer Dan Moldea's case confronts any free-expression realist with uncomfortable answers. The unholy mess of Moldea v. The New York Times, in which Moldea fights for the right to answer an attack on his book and the Times hides behind the First Amendment while suppressing his voice, developed because of a fundamental division at the heart of The New York Times. The free-expression thinking should be forced to accommodate that fact. Unlike The Washington Post Book World, for instance, the Times Book Review does not list the names of its editors on a masthead.