Author Trumps Donald on Appeal

By: Kimberly Harris
Photo by: Charles Rex Arbogast
© 2007 Associated Press

An author won an appeal on Friday, allowing him to maintain the confidentiality of his sources used to write a book about Donald Trump, according to The Associated Press via the First Amendment Center.

A New Jersey appellate panel reversed the state’s Superior Court ruling to compel Timothy O’Brien, a former New York Times business editor, and the Time Warner Book Group (now Hachette Book Group) to disclose the identities of the anonymous sources who claimed that Trump was worth “millions, not billions” in TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.

Trump sued O’Brien, alleging that the author knowingly understated his wealth and damaged his reputation. The business magnate estimated his fortune at $2.7 billion, but the book’s sources offered a figure closer to $250 million.

This new ruling marks a victory for the media community that supported O’Brien during the lawsuit. Broadcasters, publishers of books, magazines, and newspapers, and other news-media organizations, including the Associated Press, argued that the Superior Court’s decision would discourage confidential sources from providing information to journalists and prevent the free flow of news to the public, reported the AP in May 2007. They predicted that the damage to the public would be “irreparable” and cause a “chilling effect,” or self-censorship, among journalists and news professionals who feared an increase in lawsuits and challenges of their credibility.