Press: An Absence of Malice

The Supreme Court rules in favor of Consumers Union

It's time for a feast," So declared New York Lawyer Floyd Abrams last week after the Supreme Court handed the U.S. press its first major libel victory in more than a decade. The case involved Consumers Union, the publisher of the product-rating magazine Consumer Reports (estimated circ. 3 million). The nonprofit organization had lost a $210,000 libel judgment to Bose Corp., a Massachusetts electronics manufacturer, for a 1970 article that criticized one of the firm's loudspeakers. A federal appeals court overturned the award in November 1982. The Supreme Court...