If this election cycle has demonstrated anything, it is that in order to preserve democracy in this country, it is passed time we reconsidered the additional protections provided the media by the Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), which protects the media from most slander and libel suits. While perhaps noble at the time in its conception, the media has abundantly demonstrated that for the advancement of their own political agenda, on both sides, and to fill the demands of the 24/7 news cycle, they are willing to abandon any pretense of objectivity or, more importantly, of journalistic ethics. Since they cannot exercise the power they have been given responsibly on their own, perhaps it is necessary to return the threat of legal sanction under which they operated prior to 1954.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan