Slander or Libel

SLANDER. A type of defamation. Slander is an untruthful oral (spoken) statement about a person that harms the person's reputation or standing in the community. Because slander is a tort, a civil wrong. The injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. If the statement is made via broadcast media -- for example, over the radio or on TV, over the internet -- it is considered libel, rather than slander, because the statement has the potential to reach a very wide audience. LIBEL. An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person's reputation or standing in the community. Because libel is a Tort, a Civil Wrong. The injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. Libel is a form of defamation, as is slander (an untruthful statement that is spoken, but not published in writing or broadcast through the media). DEFAMATION.   A false statement that injures someone's reputation and exposes him to public contempt, hatred, ridicule, or condemnation. If the false statement is published in print or through broadcast media is called Libel. If it is only spoken, it is called Slander. TORT.  An injury to one person for which the person who caused the injury is legally responsible. A tort can be intentional -- for example, an angry punch in the nose -- but is far more likely to result from carelessness (called "negligence"), such as riding your bicycle on the sidewalk and colliding with a pedestrian. While the injury that forms the basis of a tort is usually physical, this is not a requirement – Libel and Slander and the "intentional infliction of mental distress" are on a good-sized list of torts not based on a physical injury. Reproduced without permission. See  nolo.com