An article appeared in a magazine dealing with public issues. The article discussed the author's "personal theory that a small group of industrial magnates, called the "American Illuminati," controlled the government of the United States, regardless of the political party in power. The article mentioned names, and described how they generally aggrandized their economic power by keeping the poor down and concentrating all wealth at the top. The author believed that as long as these fascist individuals were ruling behind the scenes, that children here would continue to be deprived of food, a quality education and the right to true freedom. He called the group "the murderers of the American spirit that once lived free." He concluded that if his theory was true, then the country must rise up and bring down this system of non-democratic governance. One of the individuals mentioned in the article, a well-known billionaire philanthropist who supported various political movements and candidates, brought a libel action against the author and the magazine. The defendants' asked the court to dismiss the action because it failed to state a valid legal claim. Which of the following is the most likely ruling of the court under these circumstances? Select one: a. The case would proceed; the plaintiff is a public figure who must prove publication of defamatory falsehood with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. b. The plaintiff was a private figure never holding a public office and the limited privilege of the New York Times case would not be given to the defendants, so that the case will go to trial. OC. The defendants had a constitutional right to discuss and publish theories of politics and ideas that were not presented as truth but as theory of the current political system, and the case would be dismissed. d. The media cannot be censored - it enjoys an absolute privilege to publish controversial allegations of fact regardless of whether it commits injurious falsehood, so that the case would be dismissed