The end of libel as we know it?

Truth is no defense against a charge of libel. Or at least, not much of one.

That, Dan Kennedy suggests, is the implication of this decision, issued last week by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. And Dan isn't the only one making the argument: here, for example, is Mass. Newspaper Publishers Association executive director Robert Ambrogi making a similar point. 

Very spooky stuff. As Ambrogi writes: "If ill will is all that is needed to turn a truthful statement into libel, then everyone is a potential defendant."