The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-12-19
Ohio Libel LAWS.


ly of Ohio should take in hand at-its ap
preaching session, says the Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette, and that Is u revis
on of the libel laws. Political libcls be
came so frequent and so infamous, few
years ago, especially with a class Of ire
sponsible and sensational journals, that Il
wave of Indignation swept over the coun-
try, and in an effort to correct the abuse
and protect private character from such
deadly assaults, Legislators were hurried
into the enactment Of laws which are un-
Just and unfair and place an intolerable
burden upon legitimate journalism, and
which encourage persons to take advan-
tage Of their unjust provisions to annoy
honest publishers by forcing them to de-
fend libel suits, brought without provOca-
ton, and for no other purpose than to
reap the pccuniary reward which would
ollow a successful prosecution Of the case.
The Ohio law is peculiarly harsh and
unjust in its provisions, and if rigidly en-
forced would shut out from the columns
of the papers every item Of legitimate
news if its publication should by any
means damage some one An honest pub
Usher sometimes falls into an error, or is
misled by information he deems reliable,
yet no matter how broad may be his re
traction, if the party injured sees fit to
do so, ne is subject to libel suit and to
l., it, Ion Irspn
sponsible and corrupt attorneys take ad-
vantage of such cases TO urge the person
offended to bring suit The publisher
cannot even print the truth, if that truth
has tendency to injure person, with
out opening the doors of the court against
himself. A man may be guilty of Il fraud
and the good of the community may de-
mand that his fraud be made as public as
possible, yet if he can make a jury believe
that its publication has injured his bust
ness or social standing the publisher is
mulctcd in heavy damages. The interests
of the public have been served by the pub
lication but the publisher has to pay the
bill. The great majority of libel suits are
begun for the sole purpose of compelling
the publisher to compromise by the pay
mcnt Of sum Of money rather than be
annoyed by the suit Thus the law be
comes a valuable assistant to blackmail
ing
Legitimate publishers will not object to
fair libel law They will cordially in
dorsc such law, and do whatever may be
in their power to secure its proper and
rigid enforcement, but they have a right
to demand that the law shall be fair and
just. The law should permit them to
plead justification and to show the truth
of the matter charged to be libelous.
They should be permitted to show that
the publication was without malice, and
where a wrong publication has been made
without malice the damages recovered
should be limited to the actual damages
proved to have been suffered. When the
publication is an error, he should be per-
mitted to make retracton, as broad and
conspicuous Us the original charge, and
that should exempt him from prosecution,
or, if not wholly exempt him, should
limit the damages to those actually sus-
tained. The law ought also to require
that all libel suits should be begun and
prosecuted in the county where the paper
is actually published, subject only to the
changes of venue permitted in other civil
cluses.
Legitimate journalism in Ohio is a
unit in demanding these necessary and
just notifications of the law. The.inter-
ests of the public demand the changes as
well.