How did the Supreme Court define “actual malice” in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan?

In the landmark 1964 case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court established that for a libel suit brought by a public official to be successful, the complainant must prove that the statement was made with "actual malice."12

The Court defined "actual malice" as making a statement with the knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was false or not. This standard was intended to ensure that public debate remains "uninhibited, robust, and wide-open," protecting the freedom of speech and the press from being stifled by libel actions based on minor, good-faith errors.23