What You Need to Know About Libel Laws

As a reporter, its crucial to understand the basics of libel and libel law. Generally speaking, the United States has the freest press in the world, as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. American journalists are generally free to pursue their reporting wherever it may take them, and to cover topics, as The New York Times motto puts it, â€Å"without fear or favor.† But that doesn’t mean reporters can write anything they want. Rumor, innuendo, and gossip are things hard-news reporters generally avoid (as opposed to reporters on the celebrity beat). Most importantly, reporters do not have the right to libel the people they write about. In other words, with great freedom comes great responsibility. Libel law is where the press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment meet the requirements of responsible journalism. What Is Libel? Libel is published defamation of character, as opposed to spoken defamation of character, which is slander. Libel: Exposes a person to hatred, shame, disgrace, contempt or ridicule.Injures a person’s reputation or causes the person to be shunned or avoided.Injures the person in his or her occupation. Examples might include accusing someone of having committed a heinous crime, or of having a disease that might cause them to be shunned. Two other important points: Libel is by definition false. Anything that is provably true cannot be libelous.â€Å"Published† in this context simply means that the libelous statement is communicated to someone other than the person being libeled. That can mean anything from an article thats photocopied and distributed to just a few people to a story that appears in a newspaper with millions of subscribers. Defenses Against Libel There are several common defenses a reporter has against a libel lawsuit: Truth Since libel is by definition false, if a journalist reports something that is true it cannot be libelous, even if it damages a person’s reputation. Truth is the reporter’s best defense against a libel suit. The key is in doing solid reporting so that you can prove something is true.Privilege Accurate reports about official proceedings – anything from a murder trial to a city council meeting or a congressional hearing – cannot be libelous. This may seem like an odd defense, but imagine covering a murder trial without it. Conceivably, the reporter covering that trial could be sued for libel every time someone in the courtroom accused the defendant of murder.Fair Comment Criticism This defense covers expressions of opinion, everything from movie reviews to columns on the op-ed page. The fair comment and criticism defense allows reporters to express opinions no matter how scathing or critical. Examples might include a rock critic ripping into the latest Beyonce CD, or a political columnist writing that she believes President Obama is doing a horrible job. Public Officials vs. Private Individuals In order to win a libel lawsuit, private individuals need only prove that an article about them was libelous and that it was published. But public officials – people who work in government at the local, state or federal level – have a tougher time winning libel lawsuits than private individuals. Public officials must not only prove that an article was libelous and that it was published; they must also prove it was published with something called â€Å"actual malice.† Actual malice means that: The story was published with the knowledge that it was false.The story was published with reckless disregard of whether or not it was false. Times vs. Sullivan This interpretation of libel law comes from the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Times vs. Sullivan. In Times vs. Sullivan, the court said that making it too easy for government officials to win libel suits would have a chilling effect on the press and its ability to aggressively report on the important issues of the day. Since Times vs. Sullivan, the use of the â€Å"actual malice† standard to prove libel has been expanded from just public officials to public figures, which basically means anyone who is in the public eye. Put simply, politicians, celebrities, sports stars, high-profile corporate executives and the like all must meet the â€Å"actual malice† requirement in order to win a libel suit. For journalists, the best way to avoid a libel suit is to do responsible reporting. Don’t be shy about investigating wrongdoing committed by powerful people, agencies, and institutions, but make sure you have the facts to back up what you say. Most libel lawsuits are the result of careless reporting.

Arguments For And Against Increased Gun Control - 994 Words

This paper analyses data from several sources to create a more complete understanding of the arguments for and against increased gun control in the US. While this paper will not cover all of the factors that should be taken into account it does cover some of the more prominent ones are discussed. The first has to do with the effects weapons may have on people, more specifically called the weapons effect. Second is the effect of intent and the difference between aggression and violence. The third is the effect of heat on aggression. Finally, the cold hard facts must be analyzed. The weapons effect is most simply described as the idea that while a person has to use a weapon to cause physical harm, the weapon may preemptively key that person up and make them more likely to use the weapon. The presence of a weapon, due to the weapons effect, also tends to cause someone to be more aggressive in a situation than they would normally be. The effect is very well supported with fifty six studi es all acting as reinforcement of it in Carlson, Marcus-Newhall, and Miller’s 1990 Effects of Situational Aggression Cues: A quantitative review in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. This particular factor is not taken as seriously as it might need to be during many debates regarding gun control. Logically one could assume that if someone wanted to kill another person they would try harder do so regardless of what weapon they had to use; the only factor would be how badly theyShow MoreRelatedEssay on Gun Control is NOT the Solution967 Words   |  4 PagesArguments against Gun Control The development of arguments surrounding gun control corresponds to the increased violence and problems related to weapons and firearms use. This then prompted the expansion of gun control initiatives and has shapes public opinion particularly in the promotion of increased regulation to banning. 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Dividend Payout and Profitability of a Public-Listed Company

Question: Describe about the Dividend Payout and Profitability of a Public-Listed Company. Answer: Introduction To find out if there exists any relationship and the extent of the relationship between dividend payout and profitability of Woolworth supermarkets, Coles and Aldi Profitability is key to long term success of a company or organization. Therefore, it is imperative to find out the other factors that will affect the profitability of Woolworths so as to make informed judgement about any future investments in the company. According to (Woolworths Online, 2016), Woolworths supermarket is a subgroup of the Woolworths limited and was founded in December 1924 and is found in 961 locations and account to more than 80% of the Australian market with fellow giant Coles. Their strong dominance makes the Australian market look almost near perfect duopoly. The three of them, Woolworths, Aldi and Coles hold the largest market share in Australia. The independent variable is dividend payout while the dependent variable is the profitability of the company. Literature review According to (McLaney and Atrill, 2012), a study between the relationship between the dividend and profitability was already carried out. In this research, we will narrow down to find if this relationship exits for public-listed companies like Woolworth, Coles and Aldi in Australia. The study, therefore, narrows down to the companies that are all located in Australia. Methods According to (Financeformulas.net, 2016), dividend can be described as the amount of money which will be paid by a company regularly and mostly quarterly and is drawn from the profits made by the company in that period. Therefore, dividend payout ratio is said to be the amount of the dividends, as described above, that will be paid to the shareholders of a company and which is dependent to the total bet income that a company earns in a given time period. Not all the profits are paid out to the shareholders and the amount that is retained by the company is used for development and growth purposes by the organization. This amount that is held back by the company for such purposes is called the retained profits of a company. According to (My Accounting Course, 2016), profitability of a company can be defined as being capability of an organization to utilize all the resources at its disposal so as to earn profits from its operations and this often forms on of the four pillars that are commonly used in the analysis of the statements of finance as well as the general performance of an organization. Other than profitability, other pillars that will be often used in this analysis include; solvency, the prospects of the potential market as well as the efficiency. These are the factors that anyone linked to the business may it be as an investors, client, creditors or even managers will attempt to use in their forecasts about the future and the effects these could have if carried out well. Two things that affect profitability include revenues, which is the income made by the business and his includes the sales of goods as well as the provision of services and expenses which is the general expenditure by the busi ness. According to (Reference, 2016), a pubic listed company is the direct opposite of the private business and is owned by stakeholders who can buy themselves the shares of the company or dispose of them from the stock exchange market or the open over-the counter market. The formula for the dividend payout ratio is given by; Dividend payout ratio = Total Dividends / Total Net income Another method of obtaining the dividend payout ratio is; Dividend payout ratio = 1- Retention The total net income as given in the formula above can be calculated from the companys books of accounts and specifically the income statement. This formulae will be used when there are considerations to be done in order to determine whether it would be profitable to make any investments in the public-listed company whose shares can be bought in the stock market. This formula will take into account both the dividends and also the high potential growth rates. As such, this formulas will makes assumptions on the steady income as well as the rate of reinvestment with future possible earnings in mind, given that the chosen company posts a net income. It is worth noting that the ratio of retention and also the ration of the dividend payout should sum up to 1 or 100 percent of the total net income posted by the company. The assumption made in these calculations is that whatever amount that is not paid out to the shareholders as profit revenue is recycled by the company as funding for future business activity expansion. There also exists the possibility that a company could post a net income but still have its dividend payout ratio as 0%. In such cases, it would mean that the company had decided to reinvest all the cash that that been found from the net income into future investment opportunities. The sampling technique applied is the simple random sampling. Sampling is a techniques in which statistical data from a large data set is picked at random and is often predetermined (Investopedia, 2016). Data from different reliable sources is collected by way of observation. Results and Discussion There exists relationships between the dividend payout ratio and the profitability of a company. According to the results obtained in this study, a high dividend payout ratio would translate into the company investing very little amount of cash into its possible future business options. As such, the company might be at risk for failure to diversify and may be heavily affected in case of business failure in the field that the company focusses on. It is therefore important for a company to have a healthy dividend payout ratio that ensures that the shareholders are paid for the risk they take in investing in the business but also it gives the company enough resources to face any hard circumstances and gives it the power to change and/ or diversify its portfolio. Posting a low dividend payout ratio could be interpreted as meaning that the company is making low net incomes which means less dividends and less retained cash. In this situation it likely that the company is having a difficult time in the market or they are making normal profits but have a lot of debts and other backlogs to clear. If a company is posting dividend payout ratio of 0 despite the fact that the said company had posted a posting a total net income, it would mean that the company is so concerned about its future that is willing to sacrifice the earnings payable to a the shareholders to invest all the net income made and thus the company would have a ready arsenal if the opted to expand and/or diversify to a new market. Conclusion According to (Boundless, 2016), when taking an investors viewpoint, the most important thing is the retention of profits to ensure and this is one of the fundamental pillars on which a company is built on and whose importance cannot be undermined. A shareholders is likely to be keen on what is the capital that is given to the company releases to them as the dividend payout ratio and the amount of money that is retained by the company which is known as retained funds. The amount of money that the company pays to investors through the dividend payments as well as the indirect capital gains and the retained profits. From their viewpoint, stakeholders will want the retained profits to be used by the company to not only maximize on operations that are currently in place but also to ensure that the company is able to make the highest profits possible. Thus, retained profits will be held in the reserves of the company and their main purpose will be to aid in future earning growths and expansion. Some firms need hefty sums of startup capital objective to carry on tasks. These corporations are typically not capable to dispense remunerations, since their capitals are secured up for maintenance and repairs. These firms also offer limited development opportunities, as incomes are not invested for the purpose of development. In the meanwhile some firms can retain incomes and put it back to create more for example, spend in development opportunities. These companies are striking to investors, despite of the low dispersal of profits. Shareholders are more likely to support and invest in companies that give the higher income and that have much lower rate of capital growth and as such a company that offers low dividend payout ratio would be ideal since this would translate to lower rates of capital gains tax. Companies that have very high rates of growth in their early life will tend to have the low ratios of payout as the focus on reinvestment and diversification. In the process of maturation, the earnings that are returned to the investors will gradually increase. A relationship exists between the dividends payout and the profitability of the public listed company. There exists a link between dividends payout that are paid out to the shareholders and the long term profitability of the company. References Woolworths Online. (2016). Woolworths Supermarket - Buy Groceries Online. [online] Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Financeformulas.net. (2016). Dividend Payout Ratio. [Online] Available at: https://www.financeformulas.net/Dividend_Payout_Ratio.html [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. My Accounting Course. (2016). Profitability - Definition | Meaning | Example. [Online] Available at: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/accounting-dictionary/profitability [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Reference. (2016). What is a publicly listed company?. [Online] Available at: https://www.reference.com/business-finance/publicly-listed-company-c0f52a5d3cd3b20 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Boundless. (2016). Relationship between Dividend Payments and the Growth Rate. [Online] Available at: https://www.boundless.com/finance/textbooks/boundless-finance-textbook/stock-valuation-7/stock-valuation-74/relationship-between-dividend-payments-and-the-growth-rate-335-6420/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Investopedia. (2016). Sampling. [Online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sampling.asp [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2012). Accounting. 1st ed. Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Richard Iis Deposition Essays - Knights Of The Garter,

Richard Ii's Deposition Richard II is the first play of Shakespeare's four-part History Tetraology. It tells the story of Richard II's deposition and Bolingbroke's rise to power. There are numerous reasons for Richard's fall. He went off to war and left his kingdom vaulnerable. Richard disregarded the advice of his elders. He even went so far as to steal Bolingbroke's inheritance. As Richard lost the support of the nobles and lords, Bolingbroke gained their support. Bolingbroke used this support to depose king Richard II. After the banishment of Bolingbroke, Richard quickly gets back to business and makes plans to go to war in Ireland. There are rebels in Ireland and the king must act to suppress them. But the king has little money; the cost of maintaining elaborate court life has taken its toll on the treasury. Richard plans on demanding and borrowing money from the wealthy and even renting out English land. This taxing the English and renting out English land shows a flaw in Richard as a king. He has a willingness to ignore his duty to the country in favor of his personal interests. Selfish kings are bound to be overthrown. Shortly after decided this Richard gets word that John of Gaunt is on his deathbed. He is elated because he figured an easier way to fund his war. After the death of Gaunt, Richard will claim Gaunt's lands as his own and use Gaunt's wealth for the war. Richard's coldness towards his uncle shows his lack of respect for anybody but himself. This lack of respect will help lead to his downfall. Gaunt curses Richard upon his deathbed. This curse is a bad omen and a prophesy of Richard's downfall. Richard's foolishness is shown when he chooses to ignore his dying uncles advice to Live in thy shame, but die not shame in thee! (act ii, scene I, line135). The bad omen immediately seems to come true. Upon Richard's seizure of Gaunt's land, Northumberland, Ross, and Willoughby all decide to turn against him. This action also spurs his loyal uncle York to begin a process of self-questioning that will eventually lead him to Bolingbroke's side. In scene 2 of act 2 Green enters with news that Bolingbroke has landed in England and has an army with him. This is unfortunate news for Richard, since he is in Ireland with his royal army and no one is present in England to challenge Bolingbroke. The bad news doesn't stop there. As Bolingbroke marched across England, many other English lords have joined his army. Northumberland, his son Henry Percy, Lord Ross, Lord Willoughby, and other lords have defected. In Act 3 Lord Salisbury enters and delivers even more bad news to Richard. The day before, Richard's army of Wales heard that Richard was dead. They dispersed and fled to Bolingbroke's side. Richard now must deal with the fact that he has no army. Act 3 is a point of no turning back for Bolingbroke. Bushy and Green, two of Richard's most loyal followers, are executed. This demonstrates the escalation of events that could lead to war. Richard's followers have either left his side or have been killed. Bolingbroke is left with no choice but to continue his path towards the throne. In scene 4 of act 3, Queen Isabel learns the truth of what is happening. She overhears gardeners talking politics and demands that they speak the truth. The gardener apologizes but insists he speaks truly. Richard is in Bolingbroke's custody. Bolingbroke has the loyalty of the vast majority of the English lords. Richard has nothing. He urges the Queen to travel to London to see for herself. Act 4 is one long scene describing the deposition of King Richard. Bolingbroke summons Richard so that he may give up his crown. It is important that he do so in front of all the nobles so there is no doubt about Bolingbroke's rise to king. Richard gives his crown to Bolingbroke ever so reluctantly with a long monologue full of grief. With mine own hands I give away my crown, / With mine own tongue deny my sacred state (208-9). Richard surrendered his land, crown, and kingship to Bolingbroke. All that is left for Richard to do is read