A local news outlet that helped expose a wide-reaching public corruption scandal has filed its legal defense against a defamation lawsuit brought by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant
The attorney also requested that the ex-governor’s complaint be dismissed.“We will vigorously defend this case and ensure the people of Mississippi that the press will not be intimidated,” said Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White in a statement. “We stand for press freedom and will always uphold our mission of building a more informed Mississippi.”
In addition to free speech protections, Mississippi Today’s legal defense is built around New York Times Co. v. Sullivan., a 1964 decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court greatly limited the ability of public officials to sue for defamation. It ruled that news outlets are protected against a libel judgment unless it can be proven that they published with “actual malice” — knowing that something was false or acting with a “reckless disregard” to whether or not it was true.
Bryant’s July 26 lawsuit came just over two months after Mississippi Today and one of its reporters, Anna Wolfe,for her coverage of the misspending of welfare funds intended for poor Mississippians that were instead diverted to the rich and powerful. Prosecutors have said the state’s human services department gave money to nonprofit organizations that spent it on projects such as a $5 million volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi — a project for which retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre agreed to raise money.
Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced in February 2020 that criminal charges were brought against six people, including John Davis, a former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director who had been chosen by Bryant. The announcement came weeks after Bryant, a Republican, finished his second and final term as governor.
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