Historical Evolution Of The US Media Libel Litigation Burden Of Proof Distribution System

Mass media has a deeper and deeper involvement on social life.But on the other hand, the fake reports infringe people’s legal rights.Defamation refers to fabricating the truth delibrately anddisseminating, which harms others personality and reputation. Mediadefamation means the act of damage one’s reputation while releasinginformation.Freedom of expression and the right of reputation are both thefundamental rights given by the law. They two are always playing thegame and the amount of media defamation lawsuits continuesgrowing.Some scholars have pointed out that the losing rate of mediain defamation cases is up to69%in China, while only8%of that inUSA.There are many reasons for this great difference. The law, as therigid constraints, is committed to adjusting these two basic legal rights.It plays an important role in defining rights and obligations.But theallocation of the burden of proof can always skillfully defeat thequestion of legal regulation. However, there are no specialized andsystematic researches into this proof system in defamation law ofmedia. And the study on the burden of proof system in Americandefamation cases of media is even less.They mostly exist asembellishments of libel cases research. Therefore, Author havesummarized in detail the historical changes of the burden of proofsystem in American defamation cases of media, especiallyinvestigated its legal value and historical reasons.Chapter One is introduction, which presents the backgrounds andstatus of the research, the main contents and methods as well as theinnovation of the study. Chapter Two starts from the definition ofdefamation and the burden of proof system. It clarifies the meaningand characteristics of media defamation, extending to introduce thetheory of the burden of proof and its significance to the defamation law. Chapter three is the key section of this paper. It makes a thoroughexposition of the historical changes of the burden of proof system inAmerican defamation law of media. Author shows up the complicatedlegal issue in clearly logics in the form of legal cases analysis,complemented by charts. Chapter IV and V are the innovation partsof this article. Chapters IV and V are the innovation of thisarticle.These two parts investigated the legal value and historicalreaons of the historical Changes of the burden of proof system inAmerican defamation law of media,which helps readers grasp thisissue more profoundly.The conceptual analysis,literature research, case analysis andhistorical analysis are mainly adopted in this thesis. It involves manytheoretical perspectives, and use many scholars’ theories assupport.Case analysis intersperses throughout the paper as theevidence.