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Kerri Miller and Julia Franz

Why media law matters to all Americans, not just journalists and sources

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Shortly before the election last fall, the New York Times published a story with the accounts of two women who said they had been groped by now-President Trump. When Trump's legal team threatened to sue the Times for libel, the Times' lawyer responded with a letter that went viral.

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with the Times' lawyer, deputy general counsel David McCraw, about the letter, and what it means to defend free speech in today's political climate.

"I actually liked the [Times] story a lot, because it communicated to the reader who these women were, what we knew about them, and gave facts for why readers may want to believe, and gave facts for why readers may want to doubt," McCraw said. "That, to me, is what we're supposed to be doing in a contentious political campaign."

McCraw is scheduled to give a Silha lecture on Monday October 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota.