The UA journalism professor vs. The New York Times

KAI SPEARS Mark Mayfield has read and respected The New York Times his entire adult life. Taught its journalistic standards in all of his media ethics courses at the University of Alabama. Yet in a federal courtroom in Tuscaloosa on Aug. 13, the recently retired UA journalism professor was ripping a Times story to shreds for its stunning sloppiness.Mayfield* was sought out as an expert witness by the family of Kai Spears, a former UA walk-on basketball player who sued The Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy over a March 2023 story that incorrectly placed Spears at the scene of a fatal shooting in Tuscaloosa. Mayfield’s testimony about The Times’ deviations from customary journalistic practices — and from its own standards — helped persuade the jury to award Spears $9.25 million, including $7.5 million in punitive damages. The Times hadn’t lost a defamation case over an article in the U.S. in more than 50 years. (For the best coverage of the case and the trial, see Ryan…