Libel-Proof Your Writing

A manual for writers and editors on how to spot and remove libelous statements before they are published

This is an untraditional book about libel. It is not primarily about libel law, nor about all the defenses that body of law provides. Rather, it is about how to spot and remove libelous statements before they are published – in print or on the Internet – or broadcast, or even Tweeted or posted on Facebook. It is intended primarily for journalists and journalism students, not for the lawyers who defend libel suits nor for law students. It focuses primarily on the craft of reporting, writing and editing and how practitioners of that craft can avoid making libelous statements. It deals only secondarily with the defenses that are available to journalists and their employers who inadvertently publish or broadcast false information.

Charles DeLaFuente has been a journalist for nearly half a century, in a career capped by nearly 15 years at The New York Times. He began at suburban papers in the New York metropolitan area, followed by a stint at United Press International’s New York bureau. He then went to The New York Post, where he rose to night city editor. He left The Post soon after Rupert Murdoch bought it, and went to Cardozo Law School. He was a Law Review editor and graduated cum laude in 1981. He returned to journalism in Washington, at United Press International, then moved back to New York for two stints as a reporter and deputy metro editor at The Daily News, interrupted by a post as assistant managing editor at The Times Union in Albany, N.Y. After the second stop at The News, he became editor of The Record, in Troy, N.Y., then joined The Times in 1998. Most of his career there was as a staff editor on the metro desk. He has taught writing at law schools and law and journalism courses at undergraduate colleges. He also lectures on libel and on legal terminology at annual conferences of the American Copy Editors Society.