Opinion ID: 332430
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Somewhere in the research file.

Text: 42 Nothing in the present record, which consists of the pleadings, depositions and affidavits, lends any support whatsoever, or even relates to, the published statements alleging or implying that Holland broke up Carson's prior marriage. At this stage of the proceedings, it can only be concluded that those statements are a sheer fabrication by the defendants, which St. Amant poses as an express 43 As part of the major theme of the National Insider article that Holland's alleged California residence caused the moving of the Tonight Show, the article developed in copious detail the supposed struggle between Carson and the NBC executives wherein Carson was seeking to move the show and NBC was resisting the move. The article contains supposed quotations by Carson to the executives and their responses and reactions. 44 Carson testified on deposition that he personally had no conversations with NBC executives regarding the westward move (A. 263). 45 The author of the National Insider article testified on deposition as follows (A. 207): 46 Q. My question is: From what information, inference and/or implication in the Bruce Vilanch story you drew the graphic description of the Carson conversation with N.B.C. executives, to-wit: Where you indicate Carson's patient interruptions have flabbergasted N.B.C. executives? 47 A. Well, as I recall, it seemed to be simply a logical extension of what must have gone on from the facts that I read from the Bruce Vilanch article. 48 In the catalogue of responsibilities of journalists, right next to plagiarism, which parts of the National Insider article seem to be, must be a canon that a journalist does not invent quotations and attribute them to actual persons. If a writer can sit down in the quiet of his cubicle and create conversations as 'a logical extension of what must have gone on' and dispense this as news, it is difficult to perceive what First Amendment protection such fiction can claim. In any event, St. Amant expressly gives as another example of reckless disregard for the truth any 'product of (one's) imagination.' 390 U.S. at 732, 88 S.Ct. 1323. 49 Because of both the completely fabricated marriage-breaker accusations and the wholly imagined but supposedly precisely quoted conversations regarding the purported struggle preceding the westward move of the Tonight Show, the plaintiffs are entitled to a jury's determination of whether actual malice existed. 50 We believe that the district court could only find on the basis of pretrial affidavits, depositions and other documentary evidence that the plaintiffs will be able to prove actual malice and that they should therefore be given the opportunity to do so. 15 The defendants in fabricating and imagining 'facts' necessarily entertained serious doubts as to the truth of the statements 16 and had a high degree of awareness of their probable falsity. 17 51 This case is similar to Guam Federation of Teachers v. Ysrael, 492 F.2d 438, 49 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 872, 95 S.Ct. 132, 42 L.Ed.2d 111 (1974), where the Ninth Circuit held that the plaintiffs had enough proof of actual malice to get to the jury where the author of the allegedly libelous article testified as follows: 52 He repeatedly admitted that he did not know whether what he said was true. He repeatedly admitted that he did nothing, or almost nothing, to verify his charges. As to most of his statements, he repeatedly admitted that he knew no facts to support them; he either relied upon unspecified rumor or upon nothing at all. He simply asserted that he believed that what he said was true. Such an assertion is not enough . . .. 53 Also pertinent is the following from Goldwater v. Ginzburg, 414 F.2d 324, 337 (2d Cir. 1969): 54 Repetition of another's words does not release one of responsibility if the repeater knows that the words are false or inherently improbable . . .. Furthermore, in our case, Ginzburg added certain innuendoes to some quoted statements and quoted other statements out of context in order to support his predetermined result. One cannot fairly argue his good faith or avoid liability by claiming that he is relying on the reports of another if the latter's statements or observations are altered or taken out of context. 55 The affidavits filed by the operating officer and an editor of the defendants stating that they believed that their article was true (A. 366--68) and the affidavit of the author that he (entertained no malice against' Carson or Holland (A. 369--70), are of no value in view of the other facts in the record. As Mr. Justice White said for the Court in St. Amant, '(p)rofessions of good faith will be unlikely to prove persuasive, for example, where a story is fabricated by the defendant, (or) is the product of his imagination . . ..' 18 Whether the defendants entertained malice toward the plaintiffs is immaterial since 'actual malice' in the New York Times sense refers to the defendants' attitude toward the truth or falsity of the material published. 19