Butcher v. University of Massachusetts

This case presents the issue whether, in the absence of any official government action, the fair reporting privilege extends to a newspaper's publication of a witness's statement to police. The plaintiff, Jon Butcher, filed this defamation action against the University of Massachusetts (UMass), a number of its employees (university defendants), and other individuals associated with its student newspaper (newspaper defendants), 2 after the newspaper published articles reporting that he allegedly had taken photographs of women without their permission on the campus of the University of…