MSNBC must pay $30m for its lies, 'uterus collector' incident
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"The stories aired in September 2020 on MSNBC shows hosted by stars Nicolle Wallace, Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow."
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ruled..."there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility," contrary to the allegations from a whistleblower; that Dr. Mahendra Amin, the plaintiff in the case, had performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees; and that he was not a "uterus collector," in the whistleblower's memorable phrase.
Judge Wood noted that the network was not protected by the fact that MSNBC's journalists were relaying what the judge called "verifiably false" statements by others rather than asserting them on their own authority. The whistleblower's complaint had been filed by a coalition of progressive advocacy groups.
But in other cases, MSNBC has pursued a "We lie - so what?" defense, with great success.
Rachel Maddow had another, where she made extensive "factual" statements that were false & defamatory, with all her face-mugging tricks to seem heartbroken & genuine....and her defense, in essence was, Any idiot should know I'll say anything & don't believe me. And she got away with it.
So USA law varies, at least in how it is applied.