Comment by habinero

Nope. News companies don't do it because of different reasons.

For one, it's an opinion, and traditional journalism likes to pretend it doesn't have those.

The bigger reason is anyone can sue for anything in the US. Litigation can be ruinously expensive, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get it thrown out. Hundreds of lawsuits gets expensive, even if you win or hand out $25K "get lost" settlements.

(That's why SLAPP laws are so important -- a strong SLAPP law like CA kills this behavior)

Whether or not something is prudent behavior has nothing to do with legality.