PLAUSIBLE PLEADING & MEDIA DEFENDANT STATUS: FULFILLED PROMISES, UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN LIBEL LAW ON THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF SULLIVAN.

The article discusses the embracement in 2012 and 2013 at the federal appellate court level and vestiges of an increasingly blurry dichotomy between media and nonmedia defendants on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Topics discussed include heightened pleading requirements in defamation law, incorporation of the actual arguments from the defendants, and impact of the status of the defendant as a media or nonmedia entity in the digital era.