Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 942.03 (2026)

Giving false information for publication

✓ current as of July 2026
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942.03942.03Giving false information for publication. Whoever, with intent that it be published and that it injure any person, and with knowledge that it is false, communicates to a newspaper, magazine, or other publication any false statement concerning any person or any false and unauthorized advertisement is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
942.03 HistoryHistory: 1977 c. 173.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1984–2023 · leading case: Harman v. La Crosse Tribune, 344 N.W.2d 536 (Wis. Ct. App. 1984).
Harman v. La Crosse Tribune, 344 N.W.2d 536 (Wis. Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 3× “The press release stated that the editor and reporters had violated sec. 942.03, Stats. (1978), and urged that they be prosecuted.”
Hambly v. Cole (E.D. Wis. 2023). · cites it 2× “01 (Defamation); Wis. Stat. § 942.03 (Giving false information for publication); Wis.”
Vill. of Bay City v. David C. Meixner (Wis. Ct. App. 2023). “§§ 942.03, 943.01, 943.13, and 946.72—within his civil counterclaims were either frivolous claims and/or made with the intent to harass.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.