Indeed. He still has his job, so that would not qualify for actual damages.
Nevertheless, I believe he could convincingly assert lost earnings capacity due to injury to his reputation, mental anquish, etc. If he has counsel, he may be advised to seek mental therapy to establish those damages.
As I recall he did suffer the loss of his position with the journal. That would also be actual damages.
The problem is that much of the injury to his reputation appears to be self-inflicted. He published that awful thing of his own free will, and not to put too fine of a point on it, but you don't get to be a martyr when you nail yourself to a cross ;)