From Judge Anthony Trenga's decision today in Fairfax v. N.Y. Public Radio (E.D. Va.):
On August 6, 2021, NYPR aired a radio show named "The Takeaway" on the topic of "Politics, Power and Abuse" that featured a conversation between Vanessa Tyson, a professor of political science, and the show's host, Melissa Harris-Perry ("the Broadcast"). The Broadcast discussed the reactions to women who make allegations of sexual misconduct against individuals with political power and centered in part on the then-recent allegations against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. In 2019, Tyson had alleged on a national television show, broadcast by CBS, that Fairfax had sexually assaulted her in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention. During the NYPR Broadcast, Harris-Perry referenced, and Tyson repeated her claim that Fairfax had sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, as context for a discussion about how such allegations are treated by the media and the political establishment. Also broadcast during that NYPR radio show was a short, recorded audio clip from Meredith Watson, another woman who accused Fairfax of sexual assault during the 2019 CBS broadcast, in which she expressed how she felt about Fairfax's alleged conduct.
Based on the August 6 NYPR Broadcast, Fairfax has filed a two-count complaint against NYPR alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In support of the defamation claim, the Complaint alleges that NYPR failed to investigate Tyson and Watson's allegations made on the Broadcast. More specifically, Fairfax alleges that NYPR did not speak with or mention a publicly identified witness who Fairfax claims observed his entire sexual encounter with Watson in 2000 and who would confirm that the encounter was consensual. Fairfax also alleges that NYPR should have discussed a Washington Post editorial piece that detailed the steps Fairfax has taken to attempt to clear his name, such as taking and passing polygraph tests, and that NYPR further failed to reach out to Fairfax in a "reasonable amount of time" prior to the broadcast of the radio show, although the Complaint also states that Fairfax was contacted one day before the show and did not take the opportunity to comment….
The court concluded that the statements weren't libelous because NYPR simply reported on the allegations, rather than endorsing them:
