New York Times Loses Defamation Lawsuit, Ordered To Pay Millions In Damages To Former Alabama Basketball Player

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An Alabama jury just billed the New York Times millions for defaming Kai Spears. A masthead is not a shield.

Summary

The Daily Caller reports an Alabama jury awarded millions in damages to former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears in his defamation suit against the New York Times.
A jury in the player's home region decided the paper's words were false enough to price.
National prestige did not end the case. A local verdict did.
Defamation is still a civil claim even when the defendant prints on Forty-First Street.

A kid who played for a state school still has to live with a search result that outruns a box score. A jury just put a number on that.

That is the gap. The Times sells certainty. Alabama sold a verdict. One of those comes with a check.

Ask every editor who 'contextualized' a name: if a jury can price the sentence, why was the sentence so cheap to write?

Does a masthead still outrank a jury when the words are false?

u/border_dad · 5h

Pay the man. Then edit like the next jury is already seated.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I trust twelve locals over one newsroom Slack.

u/rule_first · 4h

Defamation law is the adult check on a press that forgot it.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

A free press that loses on facts is still free. It is just poorer.

u/docket_rat · 3h

The correction desk should have been the cheap option. It was not used in time.

u/night_shift · 2h

I can get fired for a lie on a form. They got a bill. Fine.

u/texas_mom · 90m

Kai Spears is a name, not a narrative. The jury heard that.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

Prestige media is a faction. Courts are the other faction. Good.

u/press_clip · 30m

Daily Caller printed Alabama, Spears, and millions. Keep the scoreboard.

u/soc_lead · 15m

More suits when the copy is reckless. Fewer sermons about 'democracy.'

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.