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View Full Version : Can media outlets be charged with slander and libel?




Warrior_of_Freedom
05-01-2010, 12:40 PM
I'm sick of seeing on the T.V and the internet that anyone who is part of this movement, which they now dub the tea party movement or teabaggers, whatever (I thought the tea party was an event not a group) are a bunch of racists who hate Obama because he's half African-American. They keeping using the same old tricks, and they still work, people will believe anything the hive mind tells them...

JustinTime
05-01-2010, 12:44 PM
I'm sick of seeing on the T.V and the internet that anyone who is part of this movement, which they now dub the tea party movement or teabaggers, whatever (I thought the tea party was an event not a group) are a bunch of racists who hate Obama because he's half African-American. They keeping using the same old tricks, and they still work, people will believe anything the hive mind tells them...

I dont think so, you'd have to go to great lengths to show they knew what they were saying is a lie, and that they said it to do harm, and you'd have to show actual damages.

Ill speak to my father, he has a little expirience with this. He had a disgruntled former employee going around telling people that his restaurant was full of roaches, and that employees regularly spit in food. Dad looked into a lawsuit but dropped it I believe for the above reasons.

angelatc
05-01-2010, 12:45 PM
You have to be able to prove damages. Freedom of Speech, plus the press is specifically protected in the constitution....all those make it incredibly difficult.

slothman
05-01-2010, 12:46 PM
No.
It may be bad and not true but it is still freedom of expression.
I should be able to lie all I want unless I specifically tell someone to kill someone, etc.
And maybe even not then.

EDIT:
2 other people replied while I was typing this.
I'm not even sure damages are enough, with a lie of course.
Plus what kind of damages are there?
Someone is phicacally(sp) hurt, mentally hurt?

furface
05-01-2010, 12:53 PM
Defamation is usually legally defined as against an individual or legal entity, not a group of people. You basically can't legally defame something like a Tea Party member, even if you accused the group of doing something very specific like claiming they're all child molesters.

Defamation laws are incredibly stupid, though. Another liberty denying aspect of the nanny state. It should be up to people themselves to decide what's true or not, and the state attempting to regulate truth only gives the absolutely false impression that most things said in public and in the media are true.

The problem with the Tea Party movement is that much of the leadership and many people claiming to be part of the movement are in fact complete idiots who want the exact opposite of small, less oppressive government. I'd talk to them, call them on their stupid ideas like increased military spending before blaming their critics.