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TLDR - At the time the claims were made, there was not enough evidence available to make any potentially defamatory claims. If the same standards were applied t
by Proziam 6y ago
TLDR - At the time the claims were made, there was not enough evidence available to make any potentially defamatory claims. If the same standards were applied to financial reporting, the reporters would be in jail already.
> To get concrete, there is evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse murdered someone. He's been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, this is Wisconsin's equivalent of Murder.
These claims were coming out prior to him being charged and prior to any credible sources reporting details of the story. There was an organized attempt to get ahead of the narrative and paint a particular picture of the events. The fact that it's actually rather difficult to find the details of the 'victims' and their criminal histories is one indicator of that. The below cited debate on the wiki entry is another. And that is without diving into the twitter discourse where it's possible to find every level of bad faith "debate"
> There is evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse is a white supremacist. He travelled across state lines to disrupt and intimidate people at a protest for racial justice. While he may not be a card carrying neo-nazi, that's evidence.
He worked in Kenosha as a lifeguard, and was there cleaning up the neighborhood [0]unarmed earlier in the day. Saying his presence there is evidence is like saying that my fingerprints inside my own home are evidence of whatever crime may have happened there.
> There is evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse is a terrorist. He (presumably) unlawfully used violence and intimidation against civilians for political purposes. He's listed on wikipedia's list of right-wing terrorists in the US[0].
This "evidence" came into existence after the claims were already circulating. [1]The original entry was Kenosha Riots, and there is ongoing organized action to alter the title and information to change the narrative. None of the sources listed existed at the time that the defamatory claims were made.
> Coming to incorrect conclusions after good faith investigation isn't negligent.
There was no investigation, so there cannot have been good faith in the investigation. The individuals claiming he 'crossed state lines with an illegal AR-15' are making multiple false claims at once. He didn't cross state lines to participate, he was already there. He didn't cross with the AR-15, it was given to him by a WI state resident. Even the possession of the weapon itself may not have been illegal as the state statutes leave wiggle room that has yet to be explored.
The ultimate point is that the people who initiated many of these claims are journalists and news publications who should have made a good faith effort to produce accurate reports. They failed miserably to do so, and their reports still carry significant inaccuracies. Some of these reports featured video clips that were edited to better support the narrative. None of these reports, at least that I've been able to find, show all of the video evidence that is public thus far.
> Just to be clear, you are saying that it is reasonable for a person to call someone else a pedophile without any evidence, but calling someone who shot and killed someone else, on video, a murderer, is negligent? Am I getting that right?
Not exactly. I'm saying that Elon Musk is one individual who has no following because of his 'investigative journalism' credentials. He's just a dude who is rather well known for being 'out there'. On the other hand, people absolutely do follow CNN & & & as a 'credible' source for such reporting.
[0] https://nypost.com/2020/08/26/suspected-kenosha-gunman-kyle-rittenhouse-spotted-cleaning-graffiti/ https://nypost.com/2020/08/26/suspected-kenosha-gunman-kyle-...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kenosha_protests#Requested_move_25_August_2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kenosha_protests#Requeste...
- joshuamorton 6y agoNone of what you've said actually matters. Again, the standard isn't that you need to be correct, but that the statements you make would be made by a reasonable person. They can all be ultimatelywrong as long as they aren't unreasonable. It isn't unreasonable to call someone who shot someone else a murderer. It just is not. It is not unreasonable to conclude that someone who travelled to another state and then shot someone was doing so for nefarious reasons. It may be wrong, but it isn't unresonable. > This "evidence" came into existence after the claims were already circulating I'm not saying that using the Wikipedia article is evidence for the claim. I'm saying that the claim cannot be unreasonable if wikipedia ultimately reached the same conclusion. Again, you don't need to cite someone else to be not defamatory. As long as the statement, standing alone, isn't unreasonable, you're good. > None of these reports, at least that I've been able to find, show all of the video evidence that is public thus far. That doesn't make them defamatory. > Not exactly. I'm saying that Elon Musk is one individual who has no following because of his 'investigative journalism' credentials. Your original complaint was about random individuals in twitter mobs making defamatory statements. They also have no credentials. So are you now saying that actually all the random people on Twitter are fine, but it's CNN and NBC and the news organizations that are making defamatory claims? Because that's a reach. You really think you know defamation better than the lawyers who work for those companies and specialize in defamation?
- Proziam 6y ago> It isn't unreasonable to call someone who shot someone else a murderer. It just is not. How about KKK member, white supremacist, racist, etc? > It is not unreasonable to conclude that someone who travelled to another state and then shot someone was doing so for nefarious reasons. It may be wrong, but it isn't unreasonable. This isn't what happened and there is substantial evidence that demonstrates this. He didn't travel there for that reason, he was there when it started because he works there. He traveled a shorter distance 'into another state' than from me to my local mall. > Because that's a reach. You really think you know defamation better than the lawyers who work for those companies and specialize in defamation? [0]Lin Wood, (Kyle's lawyer) recently won multiple defamation cases, one of which was against CNN for their poor coverage of the Nick Sandmann case. He's quite literally an expert in the field. I'm happy to let him sort things out. > Your original complaint was about random individuals in twitter mobs making defamatory statements. They also have no credentials. So are you now saying that actually all the random people on Twitter are fine, but it's CNN and NBC and the news organizations that are making defamatory claims? They aren't "fine" but they are not the originators of the harm. The so-called journalists intentionally editing video to alter narratives, and large organizations that are trying to alter the publicly available information are absolutely not fine. And my original point was that I've not seen Twitter mobs (as a collective) avoid crossing the line. However, you can't go after a mob, you can only go after the most important individuals fanning the flames. [0] https://lawandcrime.com/media/lawyer-for-covington-catholics-nick-sandmann-threatens-to-sue-cnns-brian-stelter-and-others-for-tweeting-about-defamation-case/ https://lawandcrime.com/media/lawyer-for-covington-catholics...