Sarah Palin briefly took the stand in her libel trial against The New York Times on Wednesday, while the editor responsible for inserting incorrect language in a 2017 op ed said that he “felt terrible” about the mistake, but denied that it was intentional.The trial in a New York federal court has been moving rather briskly and has drawn attention as it is one of the rare instances of a major public figure to take a news outlet to trial, given the high bar that plaintiffs face in showing that a publication engaged in malice or reckless disregard for the truth.Palin sued the Times in 2017 over an editorial that she said falsely linked her political rhetoric to the 2011 Tucson shootings in which six people were killed and congresswoman Gabby Giffords as severely wounded.

The Times corrected the editorial and also conceded that it had incorrectly characterized a map from Palin’s political action committee that featured crosshairs over certain Democrats’ electoral districts, including Giffords.In her testimony, Palin gave biographical details before Judge Jed Rakoff adjourned the proceedings for the day.Earlier, James Bennet, former opinion editor for the Times, said that the incorrect op ed was “my failure,” given that he had added the wording in the op ed that linked the “political incitement” of Palin’s political action committee to Jared Lee Loughner, who in the 2017 opened fire on the supermarket parking lot.Bennet testified that they decided to do the editorial on the morning of June 14, 2017, in the hours after James Hodgkinson opened fire on several Republican members of Congress who had been engaging in practice for a softball game, seriously wounding Rep.

Sarah Palin Takes Stand In Libel Trial Against New York Times; Former Editor Says He “Felt Terrible” For Inserting Incorrect Sentence In Op Ed

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