Actual malice

In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court defined actual malice as a state of mind in which a person or publication makes an untrue and defamatory statement about a person “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” In order to recover damages for libel, a public official or public figure must be able to show by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with actual malice.