Global Relief Foundation v. New York Times, 03-1767.

• Decision Date: 01 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-1767.,03-1767.
• Parties: GLOBAL RELIEF FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY, Associated Press, American Broadcasting Companies, Incorporated, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

390 F.3d 973

GLOBAL RELIEF FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY, Associated Press, American Broadcasting Companies, Incorporated, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-1767.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued September 22, 2003.

Decided December 1, 2004.

Roger C. Simmons, Victor E. Cretella, III (argued), Gordon & Simmons, Frederick, MD, Plaintiff-Appellant.

Michael M. Conway, Foley & Lardner, David P. Sanders (argued), Jenner & Block, Sarah R. Wolff, Sachnoff & Weaver, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before ROVNER, EVANS and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

In the months following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, journalists and news agencies published reports concerning the government's efforts to cut off all sources of funding for terrorist activities. The defendants here reported that Global Relief Foundation was one of the targets of government investigations into sources of funding for terrorism. Global Relief Foundation sued the defendants for defamation, complaining that contributions to the organization evaporated following these reports. Truth is an absolute bar to recovery for defamation and the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants after finding that each of the reports was substantially true. We affirm.

I.

The plaintiff, Global Relief Foundation, Inc. ("GRF"), was incorporated in Illinois as a charitable organization. The defendants are all reporters or news organizations. They include the New York Times Company (the "Times"), American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("ABC"), Globe Newspaper Company a/k/a The Boston Globe (the "Globe"), Associated Press, Inc. (the "AP"), Daily News, L.P. ("DNLP"), Hearst Communications, Inc. ("Hearst"), Antonio Mora ("Mora"), Martha Mendoza ("Mendoza"), Judith Miller ("Miller"), Kurt Eichenwald ("Eichenwald"), William Louis (Zev) Chafets ("Chafets"), Scott Winokur ("Winokur") and Christian Berthelsen ("Berthelsen").

In the days following September 11, 2001, the U.S. government sought to identify the persons and organizations responsible for the attacks. President George W. Bush announced that the United States would make no distinction between those "who committed these acts and those who harbor them." By September 15, President Bush publicly identified Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda organization as the main suspects in the attacks. A few days later, the President stated that the United States would also focus on non-governmental organizations which served as fronts or as funding mechanisms for terrorist organizations. On September 23, 2001, President Bush implemented Executive Order 13224, declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of terrorist attacks and specifically authorizing the government to freeze the assets of people and organizations that supported or were associated with terrorism. Each of the defendants subsequently reported on the government's investigations into organizations linked to terrorism. Because these reports form the bases of the libel claims, we will detail each report as it relates to GRF.

A.

The first report came the day after the Executive Order was issued. ABC broadcast a report by Antonio Mora on its "Good Morning America" program, detailing the government's actions in freezing the U.S.-held assets of "charities and non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and abroad that funnel money to bin Laden and other terrorists." Mora noted that the president had issued an executive order to follow through on his promise to cut off funds to terrorists. He stated, in relevant part:

Now, a few of the charities accused of getting funds to bin Laden have operations here in the U.S. They're listed there. The Holy Land Foundation out of Richardson, Texas; The Islamic Relief Agency out of Colombia, Missouri; Global Relief Foundation out of Bridgeview, Illinois, and the Al Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn.

Now, most deny the charges. Now, there are dozens of others abroad that are listed as terrorist fronts, too. So, Charlie, it is the first punch in this financial war against terrorism.

Good Morning America, September 24, 2001, Transcript from Video Monitoring Services of America, L.P. Later in the day, ABC published a retraction on its website, reading:

In an early report on President Bush's Executive Order to freeze assets around the world, Good Morning America said that certain U.S.-based charities (the Holy Land Foundation, the Islamic Relief Agency, the Global Relief Foundation, and the Al Kifah Refugee Center) had been accused of "getting funds to Bin Laden." This is not the case. We regret the error.

B.

The second report came in an article by Zev Chafets in the September 28, 2001 edition of the New York Daily News. The focus of the article was the Council on American-Islamic Relations ("CAIR"), a group the author states was "in bed with at least two philanthropic groups suspected of being fronts for one of the Middle East's most lethally anti-American, anti-Jewish jihadists: Palestinian Hamas." Chafets commented that although CAIR condemned the September 11 attacks, the group did not acknowledge that the attacks were connected to Osama bin Laden and that they were carried out in the name of an Islamic holy war:

On the other hand, the CAIR is very specific about how the public should respond to the attacks on America: Send money. It recommends contributing to three organizations — the Red Cross, the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation.... The Global Relief Foundation, located in Bridge View [sic], Ill., has been accused by Israel and American security experts of funneling money and support to Hamas. Like the Holy Land Foundation, it is currently under intense federal scrutiny.

CAIR is untroubled by these investigations. In fact, it regards these two organizations as victims of persecution. "There's been a campaign to shut them down for years," Hooper¹ says. "You tell me if they are legal American organizations."

They are. For now.

Bush is right to insist that not every Islamic and Arab group supports holy warriors such as Hamas. But, as his staff ought to know by now, some have, and still do.

"Beware the Wolves Among Us," New York Daily News, September 28, 2001, p. 30, Zev Chafets.

C.

A few days later, the New York Times published the third report, focused on the "financial assault" against Osama bin Laden. During the prior week, the Bush administration had frozen the assets of twenty-seven individuals and organizations linked to bin Laden. The article reported that administration officials were preparing to freeze the assets of approximately two dozen more charities and other organizations "that are suspected of providing money and support to his terrorist operations." The article discussed individuals and organizations under investigation for ties to bin Laden:

The new list of suspect organizations, now under review by a group of officials led by Treasury Department representatives, includes charities in Saudi Arabia and Chicago, an Arab bank and at least three "hawalas," the informal money-lending networks common in the Arab world. The list is expected to be announced within two weeks.

New York Times, "A Nation Challenged: The Investigation; U.S. Set to Widen Financial Assault," October 1, 2001, Judith Miller and Kurt Eichenwald (hereafter "Nation Challenged"). The article described the complex web of financing terrorists use for their activities, including ties to relief organizations that provide legitimate humanitarian services at the same time they support terrorism. After discussing the Benevolence International Foundation as a group being investigated for conducting both legitimate charitable work and terrorist support, the authors turned to GRF:

Administration officials are also recommending that an American charity be included on the new list — the Global Relief Foundation, which provides emergency relief, medical aid and engages in other humanitarian efforts around the world.

Global Relief, based in Bridgeview, Ill., long a hub of militant Islamic activity, is also making an appeal on its Web site for victims of the catastrophes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, though it does not refer to them as terrorist attacks.

Global Relief was originally included two years ago on a list circulated by the Clinton administration of 30 organizations with suspected ties to terrorism. But in an interview last year Stanley Cohen, a lawyer for Global Relief, called the investigations of the foundation "another of the government's pathetic attempts to sully committed Islamic organizations."

Id. These final three paragraphs of the lengthy article contain the only mention of GRF.

D.

Martha Mendoza, an AP national reporter, authored the fourth report on GRF's list, an October 5, 2001 piece titled, "Islamic Aid Groups Scrutinized." As in the Nation Challenged article, Mendoza recounted the president's move to freeze the assets of twenty-seven people and organizations the prior week, and discussed future targets of the government's terrorist financing investigations. She described the government's investigation process of reviewing open source information and gathering data from the CIA, the FBI, foreign governments and the State Department to determine whether credible evidence existed to place a particular organization on the list:

Among U.S.-based relief organizations receiving close federal scrutiny are Benevolence International Foundation based in Worth, Ill.; Global Relief Foundation in Bridgeview, Ill.; and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richardson, Texas, according to two government sources involved in the investigation, who spoke on condition they not be identified. Those organizations may or may not be on the government's next list, the sources said.

Washington Post, "Islamic Aid Groups Scrutinized," October 5, 2001,...