


Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin lost a defamation trial against the New York Times on Tuesday, after alleging that the paper ran a libelous opinion article about her in 2017.
The article in question suggested that Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC, encouraged a mass shooting in 2011 in which Representative Gabby Giffords was injured. Palin’s lawsuit against the Times was thrown out twice before the former vice-presidential candidate’s case was granted a retrial last year.
Nine jurors deliberated for two hours before they found that the Times was not liable for publishing the falsehood.
Times lawyers argued in court this week that “there’s not been one shred of evidence showing anything other than an honest mistake,” after crafting a defense that argued the newspaper did not intentionally publish the error. In a correction issued 14 hours after the article’s publication, Times editors acknowledged staff “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting.”