Libel

Libel is defamation where the defamatory words are written or printed; slander is defamation where the defamatory words are spoken.

Oral publication of a written defamation constitutes libel, not slander. The speaking of defamatory words to a newspaper reporter will support an action for slander, but will also support an action for libel if the speaker intends that his or her words be embodied forthwith in a physical form and the words are subsequently so embodied.

Defamatory statements in letters are libelous rather than slanderous.

Comment: Defamatory pictures, caricatures, statues, and effigies are libels because the defamatory publication is embodied in physical form.

Some states make no distinction between libel and slander, applying a single set of rules to both.

Slander, unlike libel, is an individual, not a joint, tort, giving rise to a separate, independent right of action for each statement made.