Eddie Johnson v. The Trib and Skip Bayless

[DyePack]

There is no way that Bayless should be on the hook for this. No way.

If you read something libelous out of the paper and spread it across the airwaves without attributing it, you'd be just as much on the hook as the newspaper.

dyepack -- Reading The Constitution Since 20 Minutes Ago.
Ace -- Ethically, you've got a case. Legally, not so much.

No idea why you've ashociated me with those posts, but whatever.

 

[blondebomber]

Not if he said he was reading it out of the Tribune.

There is no way that Bayless should be on the hook for this. No way.

If you read something libelous out of the paper and spread it across the airwaves without attributing it, you'd be just as much on the hook as the newspaper.

 

[blondebomber]

Malice has to be proved, but the threshold is much higher for a public figure, which Johnson clearly is.

And if I were Trib's lawyer, at a deposition I'd ask Eddie Johnson about his comments the day after it happened: "Everybody makes mistakes."

This is the 5th time in the last month I've had to beg people on a journalism site to stick up for the First Amendment.

I'm not seeing the First Amendment issue here--are you saying that punishing the Tribune for a mistake would somehow restrict their freedom to publish?

Don't you think that your sphincter would be a little tighter if you got sued for every mistake?

Not a far leap from that to getting sued because you had little Suzie's name wrong in the softball story and now it will cost her a $100,000 college scholarship.

Last time I checked, having your name spelled incorrectly wasn't a vile felony that will wreck your reputation.

Get a grip (and some better logic).

 

[Ace]

Malice has to be proved, but the threshold is much higher for a public figure, which Johnson clearly is.

And if I were Trib's lawyer, at a deposition I'd ask Eddie Johnson about his comments the day after it happened: "Everybody makes mistakes."

This is the 5th time in the last month I've had to beg people on a journalism site to stick up for the First Amendment.

I'm not seeing the First Amendment issue here--are you saying that punishing the Tribune for a mistake would somehow restrict their freedom to publish?

Don't you think that your sphincter would be a little tighter if you got sued for every mistake?

Not a far leap from that to getting sued because you had little Suzie's name wrong in the softball story and now it will cost her a $100,000 college scholarship.

Last time I checked, having your name spelled incorrectly wasn't a vile felony that will wreck your reputation.

Get a grip (and some better logic).

My point is, if you can be successfully sued for any mistake -- without malice or intent being an issue -- it's not a far leap from defending lawsuits because you had the wrong last name of a girl who scored four goals in a soccer match. Parents claim you screwed her out of a scholarship and want the paper to reimburse them.

 

[blondebomber]

Proving to jury that such a mistake led to a loss of scholarship is much more difficult than expecting them to understand how a false accusation of child molestation hurts a person's reputation. The former is conjecture. The latter is patently obvious.

 

[Starman]

My bet is that Eddie Johnson is bringing the suit, not so much for big money (any competent lawyer would tell him he is very unlikely to win), but to drag out a few more front-page stories hammering home the fact that HE IS NOT THE CHILD MOLESTER, IT'S THE OTHER EDDIE JOHNSON.

My guess is that's about 85% of the motivation.