Oh, yes, because if I were to just go around saying "so-and-so likes kiddie porn" it wouldn't constitute libel. If the media does it, however, they're just "reporting what they're told." Either way, it hurts (ie destroys) someone's career and quite possibly their whole life. When was the last time someone being acquitted made the front page? (I remember... hmmm... Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson, that's about it.) It's like when a newspaper makes a mistake on the front page; the erratum is found somewhere where nobody looks for it, therefore it is not there to inform, but it is there to cover the newspaper's ass.