Title Literary journalism on trial : Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment / Kathy Roberts Forde

Published Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 288 pages) Series Book collections on Project MUSE UPCC book collections on Project MUSE. Archive Political Science and Policy Studies Foundation Contents Masson v. New Yorker goes to trial -- Literary journalism and the New Yorker -- The historical origins of the Masson-Malcolm dispute -- Libel at the New Yorker -- Masson v. New Yorker in the early years -- Libel law and the postmodern dilemma : the search for truth -- The end of the line for Masson Summary In November 1984, Jeffrey Masson filed a libel suit against writer Janet Malcolm and the 'New Yorker', claiming that Malcolm had intentionally misquoted him in a profile she wrote for the magazine about his former career as a Freud scholar and administrator of the Freud archives. Over the next twelve years the case moved up and down the federal judicial ladder, at one point reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, as lawyers and judges wrestled with questions about the representation of truth in journalism and, by extension, the limits of First Amendment protections of free speech. Had a successful Freudian scholar actually called himself an intellectual gigolo and the greatest analyst who ever lived? Or had a respected writer for the 'New Yorker' knowingly placed false, self-damning words in her subject's mouth? 'In Literary Journalism on Trial,' Kathy Roberts Forde explores the implications of Masson v. 'New Yorker' in the context of the history of American journalism. She shows how the case represents a watershed moment in a long debate between the advocates of traditional and literary journalism and explains how it reflects a significant intellectual project of the period: the postmodern critique of objectivity, with its insistence on the instability of language and rejection of unitary truth in human affairs. The case, Forde argues, helped widen the perceived divide between ideas of literary and traditional journalism and forced the resolution of these conflicting conceptions of truth in the constitutional arena of libel law. By embracing traditional journalism's emphasis on fact and objectivity and rejecting a broader understanding of truth, the Supreme Court turned away from the First Amendment theory articulated in previous rulings, opting to value less the free, uninhibited interchange of ideas necessary to democracy and more the trustworthiness of public expression. The Court s decision in this case thus had implications that reached beyond the legal realm to the values and norms expressed in the triangular relationship between American democracy, First Amendment principles, and the press Analysis "Multi-User" Literary journalism Notes OldControl:muse9781613760918 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-281) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Subject Malcolm, Janet -- Trials, litigation, etc Masson, J. Moussaieff (Jeffrey Moussaieff), 1941- -- Trials, litigation, etc SUBJECT Malcolm, Janet -- Trials, litigation, etc Masson, J. Moussaieff (Jeffrey Moussaieff), 1941- -- Trials, litigation, etc Malcolm, Janet fast Masson, J. Moussaieff (Jeffrey Moussaieff), 1941- fast Masson, Jeffrey Moussaieff. swd New Yorker. swd Subject Journalism -- Objectivity -- United States Interviewing in journalism -- United States Trials (Libel) -- United States -- History -- 20th century SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General. Interviewing in journalism Journalism -- Objectivity Trials (Libel) Klage United States Genre/Form History Trials, litigation, etc. Trial and arbitral proceedings. Comptes rendus de procès et d'arbitrage. Form Electronic book LC no. 2008003493 ISBN 9781613760918 1613760914

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