{
  "id": 825,
  "subject_type": "incident",
  "subject_id": 203,
  "field": "effect_on_reporting",
  "value": "Actual malice standard",
  "statement": "The Supreme Court held that a public official may not recover libel damages over criticism of official conduct unless the official proves the statement was made with actual malice, that is, with knowledge it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth.",
  "attribution": null,
  "source_id": 550,
  "evidence_quote": "unless he proves that the statement was made with 'actual malice'—that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.",
  "evidence_date": "1964-03-09",
  "method": "court_record",
  "verified_at": "2026-09-26",
  "confidence": "high",
  "status": "current",
  "supersedes_id": null,
  "superseded_by": null,
  "supersede_reason": null,
  "batch_label": "historical-2026-09-26",
  "created_at": "2026-09-26T18:04:18Z",
  "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/825",
  "subject_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1960-us-montgomery-commissioner-sues-new-york-times-for-libel",
  "source": {
    "id": 550,
    "url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/376/254",
    "final_url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/376/254",
    "title": "New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)",
    "publisher": "Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute",
    "published_on": "1964-03-09",
    "link_state": "live",
    "link_state_since": "2026-09-26T18:11:00Z",
    "wayback_url": null,
    "wayback_saved_at": null
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}