Libel and Satire Opinion Writing

Libel Libel is defined as printed untruths that harm someone’s reputation. Because satire stretches the truth to make a point, writers need to be especially careful not to harm the reputations of the people involved.

When in doubt, be careful Even when you follow the letter of the law, be extra careful to be considerate, too, especially if the satire involves your school or community. Do not hurt your paper’s relationship with its community just to get a laugh.

Proving libel Legally, libel has to meet four qualifications: • publication • identification • fault • harm

Publication Publication means the story is published in some form. But look at all the ways it may be published. If you tweet the headline, will it be clear it is a satire? With the Web especially, people often mistake satire for truth when clicking links. Satire has been reprinted as straight news.

Identification Identifying someone doesn’t just mean using his/her name. If people in your community can guess the identity from information provided, you can be charged with libel.

Identification examples • “the principal of the high school” • “a blond English teacher” • “Mrs. Hailey Soberoft” (as opposed to “Mrs. Holly Soboroff”) • “a member of the Homecoming Court who plays soccer”

Group libel You can also libel someone if you accuse a group of which he/she is part. A story about the archery club using freshmen as targets could libel the entire group, especially if the club is a small one. Everyone in the group looks bad.

Stereotypes Even though stereotyping doesn’t fall under libel legally, it is a fast way to harm your own reputation, as well as your publication’s. Suggesting that cheerleaders are dumb or sci- fi fans are socially awkward, or playing to racial, ethnic and gender stereotypes is not creative and will cause unnecessary harm.

Accidental identification If you write a story about a fictional cheerleader taking chemistry, make sure the details don’t match a real cheerleader in the class. If enough details make some people think the story is about a specific person, that can count as libel, even if that isn’t the writer’s intent.

Fault Fault means the publication did not do everything possible to tell the truth. Because satire isn’t reporting on the truth, but instead stretching the truth to make a point, if the story harms someone’s reputation, the publication is at fault. Be extra careful.

Harm Harm means the story hurt someone’s reputation. Publishing that two unrelated students with the same last name are siblings may cause some confusion, but likely not actually hurt anyone. On the other hand, a lot of humor writing has an edge to it that can cause harm.

You will get in BIG trouble if your satire accuses someone of a crime mentions someone’s love life or sex life deals with grades, disciplinary records, health, special education status or other private information accuses someone of unprofessional behavior accuses someone of prejudice

Ways to avoid problems Ask yourself whether satire is the best way to make this point. Keep it impersonal. Get permission.

Is satire the best way to make this point? Satire isn’t just about making people laugh. It should be making a point about something ridiculous in the community. Often a completely factual column can make the same point and even have a light hearted tone while avoiding problems.

Keep it impersonal Satire should be about the issues at school, not personalities. Even if you may not be sued, exaggerating the principal’s forgetfulness in a story where he loses the keys to the school and everyone has to wait outside while he climbs through an air duct may hurt feelings and make the next real interview with the principal harder.

Satirize issues, not personalities To avoid hurting people with satire, focus on the issue at hand, and exaggerate that, instead of exaggerating people. Comedians may be able to satirize the president’s quirks, but they don’t spend eight or more hours a day in the same building as a president.

Get permission If you are writing about someone in a satirical story, let them know. Don’t invent fictional quotes they don’t know about or approve. In some cases, the subject may be willing to help.

Prior review Letting a source see a story beforehand is a bad idea. The source may want to change the story to fit his/her agenda. However, when the story is fiction, things change. At least show someone the parts of the satire they will appear in before publishing.

Remember your reputation Even if the school has 4,000 or more students, that’s the size of a small town. People see each other. People know each other. People talk to and about each other. What you write will affect that community and how people are seen. It will also affect your reputation as well as your publication’s.