Another way to view my point is that defamation doesn't include an intent element. Read the case, NYT v. Sullivan. In defamation, the definition of "actual malice" is knowing the statement is false, or repeating it with reckless disregard for the truthfulness. The act does not need to involve ill will.
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Held: A State cannot, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, award damages to a public official for defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves "actual malice" -- that the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard of whether it was true or false. Pp. 265-292.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/376/254