Pro-ITN Libel Suit Post (re: THE TEARS OF THE MIGHTY

Tom Lehman TLehman at lor.net
Wed Mar 15 20:07:53 PST 2000


I like the British news documentaries on crop circles and ufo's--they are so serious--and so well done! The only problem is the British carry their sense of humor over into more bloody areas and the naive take their exaggerations as fact.

On this racism stuff--I think Charles must have heard the rumor that Bush plans on asking Collin Powell to be his running mate. I heard it too. ;o)

Tom

JKSCHW at aol.com wrote:


> In a message dated 00-03-15 18:18:16 EST, you write:
>
> << So by LM's own
> testimony, this case was not about press coverage but about the truth of
> whether Muslim prisoners were imprisoned.
>
> And on that core truth, the jury ruled against LM.
> >>
>
> Right, but in the US, since the matter is one of public interest, this
> falsehood, which also had to be found to be damaging, would not be actionable
> unless LM was reckless,a high standard to meet. The upshot is that LM may be
> put out of business. Now I don't care for its views in the main, from what I
> have seen of them as posted here by JIm H., but I think that is a bad thing.
> It would shut down yet another more or less independent and perhaps cranky
> but anyway nonstandard perspective, incidentally transferring money to the
> press barons. Our constitutional law of libel makes this much harder to
> happen, and that is better.
>
> Btw, the jury also believed that LM had done, what, half a million pounds of
> reputation damage to the plaintiff--absurd. No one in England cares what LM
> thinks. I would be surprised if the report, if false, did five pounds of
> reputational damage to the plaintiff. That makes me doubt that the jury
> decided the factual part of the verdict on the merits. I wouldnm't be
> surprised if they got it right--I think LM has been apologizing for
> atrocities by the rump Yugo state (which are not, to give Lm its due, as bada
> s NATO, Blair, and Clinton made out, But can you really give much credit to a
> jury verdict that gives those kinds of damages in a case like this?
>
> --jks



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