This week as part of our Intentional Torts topics we covered defamation and First Amendment issues related to defamation. What are the Constitutional Issues that are raised in the following fact pattern and assess Ms. Brown's chances for winning:

Ms. Brown was a popular principal at the local high school. After thirty years of service, she decided to leave the school books behind and enter the election for Director of the School Board.

She announced her retirement and promptly filed for the election. Unfortunately, the local newspaper was supporting her opponent. When Ms. Brown and her opponent, Mr. Green, held a debate, the newspaper reported the story. During the debate, Mr. Green said that he favored spanking unruly children. Ms. Brown said, "I'm never in favor of violence. We should not spank the children. When children misbehave or become unruly, there are many techniques to use to change their behavior and seek excellence in teaching. Even when one child is unruly and threatens other children, there are many ways to control the unruly child while protecting the other children. Spanking is never the answer."

Since the newspaper wanted Mr. Green to win, they printed the following story. They knew it wasn't exactly what Ms. Brown said.

The newspaper article said, "Last night's debate between Mr. Green and Ms. Brown was interesting. When asked about discipline, Mr. Green indicated that he thought proper behavior was important enough to consider all forms of discipline. He suggested that he would not rule out spanking. Ms. Brown, however, would never consider spanking as appropriate even if the health and safety of other children were threatened."

Most people in the city knew Ms. Brown, understood her past good work and voted for her. She won the election. After the election, she sued the newspaper for defamation.