Press: Of Meaning and Malice

To Ariel Sharon's attorney Milton Gould, the issue before the jury was the destruction of the reputation of a hero and patriot. "It falls to you, six Americans," he said, "to do your duty and eradicate this infamy." To Thomas Barr, chief counsel for Time Inc., what was at stake was the ability of the press to seek and print the truth. "This involves a news story of how a horrible, brutal, insensible massacre of women and children took place," he said. "That is what the press's job is: to dig at things like this, to pick at things that may...