Perceptions and emotional responses are not always factual realities. Media members are human and can give into impulses to make inflammatory statements and falsely label and defame people who upset them, as Carron Phillips, a writer at Deadspin allegedly did to a boy and his family. Here's what happened, what's going on and what's likely ahead.

Defamation and more specifically online defamation: What you need to know and how to respond more successfully.

The smear campaign: Most people never see it coming and never would have imagined it would happen to them. But it did. And it can.

Winning the seemingly unwinnable defamation case. Michael Toebe and Reputation Quality look at one such legal upset where a citizen beat a powerful opponent.