Who Is Exempt From Defamation?

[Tulley]

Assuming you mean "who is exempt from liability in a cause of action for defamation", that answer is 'those who are telling the truth in the purportedly-defamatory statement or assertion'.Truth or factuality of the purportedly-defamatory statement or assertion is an affirmative defense to the claim.It's more difficult, but certainly not impossible, to defame "public figures", because an additional element of "actual malice" or "New York Times malice", from the SCOTUS case of New York Times v. Sullivan, is added in cases involving plaintiffs who are deemed to be public figures.