In a brief essay, explain what New York Times Co. v. Sullivan was about and what the long-term impact of the case has been.

What will be an ideal response?

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan was a civil rights era libel case in which a Montgomery, AL, police commissioner sued the New York Times for libel based on false statements made in a newspaper ad. The U.S. Supreme Court could have ruled narrowly that the ad was not libelous, that Sullivan was not identified in the ad, or that the falsehoods in the ad were innocuous. Instead, the court ruled that journalists were protected from charges of libel when reporting on public officials as long as they were absent of malice--that is, that they did not display a reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the published account.