Defamation — Civic term

What it means

A false statement of fact, communicated to others, that injures someone's reputation. U.S. law sets a higher bar where the subject is a public official or public figure: they must also show the statement was made knowing it was false, or with reckless disregard for whether it was.

Definition drawn from law.cornell.edu · last verified 2026-08-17

Sift's plain-language summary of the cited source, not a quotation from it.

How it's being covered

410 stories in Sift's index, from 43 outlets.

Filed 2026-03-31 — 2026-09-26.

Counts stories whose headline or summary uses the term, plus stories where Sift's own reading notes flagged it — many pieces turn on a term they never spell out in the headline.

Across the spectrum

Left62 stories
Center76 stories
Right151 stories

Positions are AllSides' published ratings, shown for the outlets that filed these stories. 121 stories are counted in the total above but not placed here — either the outlet has no published rating, or Sift has not yet matched the name it files under to a dossier.

Who's covering it