Magnusson v. New York Times Co.

KAUGER, J.;

11 We granted certiorari to consider two issues: 1) whether two broadcasts aired by the defendants/appellees, New York Times Co. d/b/a KFOR (KFOR) and Brad Edwards (Edwards) (collectively, media) come within the common law fair comment privilege, affording individuals the opportunity for honest expressions of opinion on matters of legitimate public interest based on true or privileged statements of fact; and 2) whether the media may utilize the privilege as a defense to a defamation cause filed by a private person. 1 We determine that the broadcasts, both of which were focused on…