In the United States there is a strong tradition of press freedom which cites the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." It didn't always work that way.

However, a case taken against the New York Times in 1960 led to a landmark Supreme Court judgement in 1964. The case involved an advertisement critical of officials, especially one LB Sullivan, a city commissioner in charge of the police in Montgomery, Alabama. The court said that public officials and public figures could not be libelled unless the plaintiff could prove "actual malice" and that the reporter knew the facts were false or acted with reckless disregard of the truth.

In some other countries, different systems are used to offer protection to a person's good name.

In Sweden and other Nordic countries, courts grant only small amounts in damages and most people prefer to go to the "press ombudsman", who is appointed as part of the voluntary system of press regulation and mediates between the offended person and the newspaper. This is a free service.

A similar system was offered by the newspaper industry in this State. In response to the reformation of the laws of defamation in line with the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission, the industry pledged to establish and fund a voluntary system for dealing with complaints from the public.