Monday, May 03, 2010

Reflection On Libel

Nearly three years ago, on the subject of accountability in blogs, I wrote:
...you are going to tell me it logically follows that a libeled party would willingly spend the bags of money required in lawyer fees to go through a multi-year libel case against a big-daddy-corporate-behemoth like the Atlanta Journal Constitution instead of firing off a Cease and Desist letter to my hosting company which would have my blog wiped out of existence almost the minute the thing hit the system administrator's inbox?
Now, we may discover if my theory holds any water.

Candidate for Governor Ray McBerry is threatening to sue "three individuals" for libel. Although he does not specifically name SWGAPolitics or Jeff Sexton's "reports" on McBerry's alleged inappropriate relationship with a teenage girl, there is little doubt the blog is one of the targets.

UPDATE: A commenter points out the "three individuals" could be the girl, mother and step-father. I have to admit that makes sense as well. I guess we'll have to wait and see what McBerry does. Then again, this is politics, this could all very easily be a flash in the pan that's forgotten in a couple of months.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I figured the 3 people were the girl, her mother and her stepfather.

griftdrift said...

That's possible. Here's the key part of the press release.

"Furthermore, at least three individuals to be named later will be facing court proceedings for libel after the November election for things which have been stated either in print or online."

I suppose that could be interpreted to be the girl, mother and step-father.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that the stepfather has written anything though...unless I missed it. So, maybe the girl, the mother, and Sexton?

Sara said...

The stepfather was part of the interview with the AJC. He could be sued for slander, rather than libel (since it's spoken.)

Anonymous said...

thank you for that, Sara.... I haven't seen the interview because I don't have sound on the computer....may have to make a point to look at it.

Personally I would think that Jeff would be involved in it though. He has really crossed the line with some inflammatory comments - designed to create an emotional response.