Extra: In Sarah Palin 2d NYT Defamation Trial Bennet Says The Times Has Policy Against Apologizing

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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 17 – The Friday before the second round of Sarah Palin versus New York Times, a final pre-trial conference was held by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Inner City Press, which covered the first trial, live tweeted it, thread.

On April 15, Inner City Press live tweeted each side's opening argument, and then the first two witnesses: Elizabeth Williamson who drafted the editorial - focusing her research on rhetoric and not causation of the 2011 shooting, she said - and Phoebe Lett who fact-checked it, thread.

On April 16, onto the stand went NYT's Cohn, Lepping then Bennet, ending in jokes with Judge Rakoff about Bennet sharing the same barber as Palin's lawyer Vogt. Thread.

On April 17 James Bennet was on the stand, thread.

Sarah Palin's lawyer Vogt: You are in favor of apologies because they build credibility?

Bennet: That's my hope.

Palin's lawyer: But the Times has a different view?

Bennet: They do.

Sarah Palin's lawyer: You contest that the passages are about Sarah Palin? James Bennet: I didn't intend that. Palin's lawyer: You admit the paragraphs were false? James Bennet: They drew a direct link, so they were false. Am I misunderstanding? Vogt: No, no

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