Local editor tested libel laws’ limits

W.W. Bingham, the editor and publisher of the Salem Sun in the late 19th century, appears to have subscribed to a kind of yellow journalism that was more prevalent in major cities of the era.
At least twice he was accused of libel by local public officials — a sheriff and a judge — and wound up admitting he had no factual basis for his published reports of their supposed wrongdoing.

In both cases, the plaintiffs dropped their defamation claims after Bingham testified at trial that he did not know the content of his newspaper’s reports were fabricated.

“A picturesque figure in Washington County journalism passed away last week when W.W. Bingham, editor and publisher of the Salem Sun, died after a short illness,” The Greenwich Journal reported on May 27, 1908. “The Sun was the smallest, and in some respects the spiciest, of the Washington County newspapers, and the editor has made a reputation for perfect independence of utterance.”

The term yellow journalism, coined in 1890, applied to newspapers that used sensational headlines, exaggerated or fabricated content and colorful writing to attract readership. The style dropped off in the early 20th century as American newspapers moved toward a more detached, objective and fact-based model of reporting.

Bingham was unapologetic about his style.
“The Salem Sun, the only newspaper in the state of New York issued from a county jail,” he wrote in an 1895 editorial, likely satirical, that was republished in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on June 12. “The price will remain the same as though nothing happened. The courthouse is our office, and we can now claim the finest building of any paper in the county. It was erected at an enormous cost and is composed of brick and iron, and visitors to our sanctum can rest assured it is fireproof. Any politician who wishes to see us will find us in.”

Some didn’t find his diatribe amusing.
“The editor of the Salem Sun is out of his latitude,” The Morning Star wrote. “This country is too tame for his undaunted spirit.”

Definitely not amused was Washington County Sheriff James W. Robertson, whose accusation of libel had led to a criminal indictment against Bingham.

Information in historical newspaper databases about the content of the alleged libel is sketchy, but Robertson, campaigning for the job of county sheriff in the 1894 election, was accused of covering up for outgoing Sheriff George Finch. Finch, who like Robertson was a Republican, had opted not to seek re-election and had been accused of spending $5,000 in county funds — the equivalent of about $182,000 today — that couldn’t be accounted for.

Robertson, who was the Jackson town supervisor, was accused of voting in favor of Finch’s budget without scrutinizing it.

A subsequent investigation cleared Finch of any wrongdoing.
In addition to the Salem Sun, Robertson had chastised at least one other Washington County newspaper for its reporting of his supposed misdeeds.

J.H. Durkee, editor of The Washington County Advertiser, apologized in October 1894 for publishing the accusations and agreed to retract them, Robertson and Finch wrote in a joint letter to the editor that The Morning Star published on Nov. 3, 1894, three days before the election.
“He apologized to us for his misrepresentations and said he published them because he considered that ‘anything was fair in politics,’” Robertson and Finch wrote.

A trial on the libel charges against Bingham, the Sun’s editor, was scheduled to begin Feb. 20, 1896, but at the last minute was postponed, at the request of Bingham’s lawyer, who said the editor had recently had surgery and was physically unable to participate.

“Up to this time, Bingham has been very anxious to have his charges against the sheriff aired, at least he has tried to give that impression, relying upon the silent backing he has had,” The Granville Sentinel reported on May 29, 1896.

When the case did go to trial in 1897, Robertson dropped his libel claim after Bingham admitted that his newspaper’s reporting was unfounded, apologized for publishing it, and agreed to refrain from publishing further “scandalous” reports about Robertson.

Bingham said that others had written the articles in question, and he published them without checking the veracity, The Morning Star reported on Feb. 26, 1897.

“Bingham stated that the editor of The Post gave him some of the articles, and the editor of The Post said that he never did,” The Greenwich Journal reported on March 3, 1897.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, libel laws placed the burden of proof on writers and publishers to document the truth of reports, which made it easier in that era for plaintiffs to win civil cases, according to “A Short History of Libel” by Bill Kovarik, a professor at Radford University.

Many states also had laws making libel a criminal offense. But the use of these laws fell out of favor in the early 20th century as it became clear that a system that allowed law enforcement officials to criminally prosecute their critics might be ripe for abuse.

More recently, a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1964 gave publishers stronger protection against libel claims. The court held that public officials cannot recover civil damages for errors in news stories about their official duties unless they can prove the material was published with “actual malice” — meaning the writer or publisher knew the information was false or published it with reckless disregard of whether it was true or false.

Before his 1897 trial, Bingham had been previously faced a criminal libel indictment at least one other time. Charges that that he libeled Judge Gibson Mark Sheldon were dropped at trial after Bingham retracted an article he’d published and said he had received incorrect information, The Morning Star reported on Oct. 18, 1895.

And there had been at least one earlier allegation of libel involving Bingham.
“Edward L. Coy of Melrose, Mass., formerly of West Hebron, published a letter denouncing slanderous statements which had been published about him in the Salem Sun by Editor Bingham,” The Greenwich Journal reported on Aug. 13, 1892.

 

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star of Glens Falls for 21 years before retiring in 2017. He now is a freelance writer focusing on the history of politics, labor and media in the region.