# Why haven’t tabloids been sued out of business? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 3, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970 "2016-07-03T03:11:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/1 "2016-07-03T03:11:54Z")
> **[Why haven’t tabloids been sued out of business?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344390/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business)** Who are the two dudes supposed to be in the cartoon? Is one of them Peter Thiel, mentioned in the first paragraph of Cecil’s reply? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/2 "2016-07-03T03:46:09Z")
Almost certainly Thiel, and the guy with the scruffy beard is Gawker CEO Nick Denton. All I did was Google their names using Google images. ---
**Author:** ![Ponygroom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Ponygroom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponygroom)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/3 "2016-07-04T15:02:45Z")
A number of people wrote that Rolling Stone descended beyond tabloid journalism and completely into the useless rag category when they published\* A Rape On Campus\* in the fall of 2014. Several civil suits, resignations, firings, etc., have resulted. Yesterday I read that the UVA Associate Dean who sued them moved for summary judgement based on the Sullivan test, claiming hard evidence of actual malice. The ragazine turned over emails. The reporter produced 431 pages of notes. The trial is supposed to be in October. The woman who lied to the reported is still not named in most reports. She’s been proved a liar several times over and yet, still not prosecuted. The money damages sought won’t put Rolling Stone out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/4 "2016-07-04T22:51:26Z")
I remember the Carol Burnett legal victory over the _National Enquirer_. IIRC, she was awarded the grand some of $1. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/5 "2016-07-04T22:59:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I remember the Carol Burnett legal victory over the _National Enquirer_. IIRC, she was awarded the grand some of $1. No, that turns out to be incorrect, [as can be seen here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnett_v._National_Enquirer,_Inc.#Judgment). I must be conflating it with some other case, because I have a clear memory of _someone_ winning $1 in a media libel case and the plaintiff declaring it a moral victory, and I was sure it was Burnett. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/6 "2016-07-04T23:23:23Z")
> [@Ponygroom](#): > > The woman who lied to the reported is still not named in most reports. She’s been proved a liar several times over and yet, still not prosecuted. Lying is not a crime. I haven’t followed too closely, but I do not believe she lied to the police, in fact, she never reported this fake crime to the authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/7 "2016-07-05T01:03:45Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > No, that turns out to be incorrect, [as can be seen here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnett_v._National_Enquirer,_Inc.#Judgment). I must be conflating it with some other case, because I have a clear memory of _someone_ winning $1 in a media libel case and the plaintiff declaring it a moral victory, and I was sure it was Burnett. Are you thinking of the USFL vs the NFL? Because the original $1 in damage was tripled to $3. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/8 "2016-07-05T04:01:22Z")
Cecil’s column refers to _NY Times v. Sullivan_ in a somewhat pejorative tone, but at the time it was considered a major civil rights victory. If memory serves, Sullivan was some Southern official trying to use libel law to intimidate the national press from reporting on civil rights conflicts in his bailiwick. The part about the US being _sui generis_ in its libel law also reflects the largely unique breadth of the First Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/9 "2016-07-05T22:38:53Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Are you thinking of the USFL vs the NFL? Because the original $1 in damage was tripled to $3. No, that’s not it. I’m definitely thinking of a lone celebrity. I never was a football fan and had never even heard of the one you mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/10 "2016-07-06T03:28:14Z")
Didn’t USFL v NFL involve El Trumpo? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/11 "2016-07-06T05:00:01Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Didn’t USFL v NFL involve El Trumpo? I will have to steal that “El Trumpo”. 🙂 But yes, he was: > **[5 things about Donald Trump's USFL adventure](https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/13255737/five-things-know-donald-trump-usfl-experience)** > > For the 30th anniversary of the USFL's final game, Arash Markazi explores controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump's involvement with the ill-fated 1980s pro football league. > [@](#): > > 1. Trump is widely blamed for the demise of the USFL > > Soon after Trump bought the Generals after the USFL’s inaugural season, which was played in the spring of 1983, he started pushing his fellow owners to move the league’s games to the fall and go head-to-head with the NFL. “If God wanted football in the spring,” Trump once said, “he wouldn’t have created baseball.” After the league’s third season, the owners agreed to move to a fall schedule in 1986. > > “I think it was a big mistake,” said Dr. Ted Diethrich, one of the league’s original owners. “When that decision was made, the course for this was charted, and it was going to be a wreck.” > > Several teams were having financial difficulties at the time, and the league lacked the fall TV contracts that supported the NFL. The USFL instead tried to take on the NFL in the courts by filing an antitrust lawsuit. The hope was that the USFL would either merge with the established league or win a sizable settlement. The merger never happened, and despite winning the lawsuit, the USFL was ultimately awarded only $3 for its troubles. The league soon folded, and Trump’s push for the fall schedule and a lawsuit against the NFL is generally cited as the main reason. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-haven-t-tabloids-been-sued-out-of-business/758970/12 "2016-07-06T10:15:57Z")
I’m pretty sure it was not Trump. My memory is of accusations of drunkenness and alcoholism. I still feel certain it was Burnett. Could it be possible that she had asked for much more than her award turned out to be and then afterward remarked along the lines of even a dollar would have been a moral victory?