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Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie
the sierra times ^ | 3/3/03 | Mike Gaddy

Posted on 03/04/2003 11:43:01 AM PST by freepatriot32

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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: BillinDenver
"Journalists" have no right to publish what they like on someone else's dime.

If the folks in charge do not want a story to be broadcast then it is their call.

This chick was just mad at the editorial call.

She is right to squawk about what she sees as injustice or bad editing decisions if she wants everyone to take notice, but she should not expect to keep her job afterwards.

If we have learned anything in the past 50 years it is that the news media is big business - private enterprise.

We may not like it, but thats where we are.

22 posted on 03/04/2003 12:46:12 PM PST by Notwithstanding
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: BillinDenver
You bring up an interesting point, but you seem to forget that even that example is fraught with danger in that women frequently will claim the boss insisted upon sex when he did not. Often it is pure "he said she said" and no one knows for sure. Many men have been ruined by such charges - ask Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill about this.

Conservativs have understood for a long time that we can't PROVE that CBSnooze and the NYTimes are lying every day, but we are pretty certain. But we could not prove it in a court of law. (Once in a blue moon this MIGHT be possible - but the "journalists" are normally too smart to make it that obvious).

Which is why your wishful thinking attitude is going nowehre. Every single news report would be subject to legal challenge. That will never happen.




24 posted on 03/04/2003 12:56:59 PM PST by Notwithstanding
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To: TexRef
Ah, WTVT. Ray Dantzler, Hugh Smith, Roy Leep and "Salty" Sol Fleishman (later Andy Hardy) (This in Manuel Berrio, "Salute and Happy Days from the Valencia Garden Restaurant"))

Damn how times have changed.
25 posted on 03/04/2003 1:05:30 PM PST by The Shootist
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To: discostu
"We know from successful slander suits that indeed it is illegal for the media to lie."

No, media is liable for defamation if it defames someone. It's not just lying that is actionable; it's lying about a particular person in a way calculated to lower the esteem of that person in the community at large. Lying is not actionable per se.
26 posted on 03/04/2003 1:21:59 PM PST by Henrietta
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To: dpwiener
We must always be extremely cautious about any laws which threaten to infringe on our First Amendment rights.

True, but we must also be extremely cautious about allowing those with power to abuse it at the expense of the innocent.

If someone is harmed by a negative news report, then they should have a way to recover damages - reliably and fairly. The First Amendment alone is not a justification for allowing that harm to go uncorrected. I'm not advocating prior restraint of any news story, only just compensation if harm has been done due to a lie.

There is only one justification for a harmful report: The Truth. If the news organization showed that their report was accurate and truthful, then the harm was not caused by their report, but by the behavior on which they reported.

If we made truth the only valid defense when libel/slander harm has been done, it would require those with the power of publicity to get their facts straight (as eventually determined by a jury, if necessary). Willful ignorance ("I don't care if my carelessness harms someone.") is not a defense for other kinds of harm - it may even be a compounding factor. Holding libel/slander to the same standard as other torts is not a harm to the country, to our rights, or to the First Amendment. But don't get me started on obscene damage awards - in either case.

I don't think the libel/slander laws apply in this case, because the subject of the report was not her reputation. The First Amendment might apply, but not libel/slander.
27 posted on 03/04/2003 1:26:29 PM PST by Gorjus
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To: freepatriot32
More details available here

snip
The four-part series questioning the safety of milk tainted with the controversial hormone BGH became a year-long debate after Monsanto, ...
28 posted on 03/04/2003 1:44:43 PM PST by tang-soo
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To: Henrietta
Correct, as with any kind of suit there needs to be proof of harm.

The problem with FR is any time you over simplify something you'll get called on it ;)
29 posted on 03/04/2003 2:14:27 PM PST by discostu (This tag intentionally left blank)
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To: freepatriot32
Better back up your FNC with such media as The Washington Times, The New York Post, National Review, etc.
30 posted on 03/04/2003 6:53:45 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (There be no shelter here; the front line is everywhere!)
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To: frnewsjunkie
The scary thing is Fox is the only one being charged.

The other media have gotten by with it for too many years.

Does that not seem typical? For years networks would lie in order to push their own agenda. For example, when visiting a homeless shelter (only in years when there is a Republican in office) the networks will pass by and step over the drunken bums, the prostitutes, the drug dealers, and addicts to find the one family in 500 people at the shelter who are clean cut, white, and honestly down on their luck to show that the people out in the street are "just like us".

31 posted on 03/05/2003 9:59:33 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: freepatriot32
The significant element about this decision was not that it isn't a crime to lie (if it were, Washington would be ghost town) but that it was permissible for a news service (here a TV network) to fire one of its journalists for refusing to lie.

Previously there had been cases of journalists fired when they were caught lying, but here is one fired for not lying.

32 posted on 03/05/2003 10:37:48 AM PST by DonQ
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To: freepatriot32
Operation Mockingbird
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

It's out of control.
33 posted on 03/09/2003 11:23:59 AM PST by Ethan_Allen
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To: freepatriot32
If the government is allowed to lie, why would not that which the government creates be allowed to lie (corporations)?.

Think about it.

---max

34 posted on 03/10/2003 10:17:47 AM PST by max61
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To: freepatriot32
This whole article is paraphrased, and that leads me to believe that we're not hearing the whole story, and that an agenda is being promoted.
Call me cynical.
35 posted on 03/10/2003 10:20:50 AM PST by tcostell
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator


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