A VOLUME IN THE SERIES
if there is one
Bad News Travels Fast The Telegraph, Libel, and Press Freedom in the Progressive Era PATRICK C. FILE
“An important contribution to our understanding of the development of First Amendment law, with particular relevance to current debates about the role of journalism and legal protections for the press.” —Tim Gleason, professor of journalism and director of the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism at the University of Oregon
Also of Interest
At the turn of the twentieth century, American journalists transmitted news across the country by telegraph. But what happened when these stories weren’t true? In Bad News Travels Fast, Patrick C. File examines a series of libel cases by a handful of plaintiffs—including socialites, businessmen, and Annie Oakley—who sued newspapers across the country for republishing false newswire reports. Through these cases, File demonstrates how law and technology intertwined to influence debates about reputation, privacy, and the acceptable limits of journalism. This largely forgotten era in the development of American libel law provides crucial historical context for contemporary debates about the news media, public discourse, and the role of a free press. File argues that the legal thinking surrounding these cases laid the groundwork for the more friendly libel standards the press now enjoys and helped to establish today’s regulations of press freedom amid the promise and peril of high-speed communication technology. “File’s research is impressive, and Bad News Travels Fast makes an important contribution to understanding this ‘forgotten period’ of libel law.” —Samantha Barbas, author of Newsworthy: The Supreme Court Battle over Privacy and Press Freedom
PATRICK C. FILE is an assistant professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Riot Report and the News How the Kerner Commission Changed Media Coverage of Black America Thomas J. Hrach $25.95 paper 978-1-62534-211-9
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Journalism & Media Studies / Legal Studies 160 pp., 4 illus. $26.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-62534-374-1 $90.00 hardcover, ISBN 978-1-62534-373-4 Also available as an e-book January 2019 fall / winter 2018–2019
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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS PRESS