Somewhere along the way — and I don't know the precise history of this — the First Amendment clause guaranteeing a free press was twisted to virtually eliminate effective libel and slander laws, thereby making it all-but-impossible to successfully sue or criminally prosecute reporters, newspapers, and other news companies. Not 100% impossible, but nearly so.
To the extent the general public has any knowledge of this problem at all, they probably think this only impacts "public" people. But few are aware of just how easy it is to become a public person in the eyes of our pathetic libel/slander laws. If you're on TV even once, or in the newspapers once, you can be considered a public person.
I understand the need to protect our press freedoms, but the system is skewed waaaay too far over in favor of the media. The effect is that they are the only truly unaccountable business under our system of criminal and civil law. Unlike other companies, if their product is harmful, or fraudulent, or defective, they can't be held accountable. They can ride roughshod over the lives of any one of us, and lie, cheat, steal, trespass, and even commit treason and sedition in the process. Yet they are untouchable.
It's one of the great injustices in our nation, in my opinion. Not even Great Britain, grandmother of our founding principles, has so little check on media power.