Libel history

As media formats are constantly evolving and have certainly undergone dramatic change from the day libel law was first established in the United States, I was curious to see how libel laws have changed to keep up.  Somehow we got to the point where we have 5 things a plaintiff must prove to show that he/she was libeled, as well as 3 defenses a defendant has to show that his/her comment was not libel.

According to the US History Encyclopedia (from Answers.com),  "In its seventeenth-century form, libel covered any written statement, whether true or false, that tended to damage the opinion which "right-thinking" people might otherwise hold of the government, public officials, or ordinary citizens."

The current definition of libel acknowledges the versatile platforms libel can take and is more "politically correct" than the last definition.  Law.com defines libel as "to publish in print (including pictures), writing or broadcast through radio, television or film, an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation, by tending to bring the target into ridicule, hatred, scorn or contempt of others. "

From what I understood while reading about libel law history, libel laws were adopted by most states during the 19th century and most libel debates of the 19th and early 20th centuries involved cases between political leaders and newspapers.

Not until the Civil Rights movement was there a push to reform libel law, which seemed to be adversely affecting more than politicians anymore.  The U.S. Supreme Court declared the Sedition Act of 1798 unconstitutional, (most states followed this act in creating their own libel laws), on the grounds that it inhibited public debates from being "uninhibited, robust and wide open."