4 ms·

Project Veritas Wins Victory Against New York Times in Defamation Action

21 points by thinkingemote 6y ago

thinkingemote 6y ago
I thought this gives an interesting very legal focused impression on the news story.
- samizdis 6y ago
  The legal discussion is nicely presented, but I am also interested in the news v narrative struggle: > ... journalism professors have publicly called for an end of objectivity in journalism as too constraining for reporters in seeking “social justice.” This trend toward advocacy journalism has led to polls showing record lows in terms of trust for the media. The cost of the changing view of journalism may not only be in the loss of core trust but of core legal protections. I am firmly in the camp of separating news from comment. Certainly, run a comment piece next to the news piece, but don't present opinion as news. As an aside, many years ago as a sub-editor (copy editor) on a UK tabloid, we would often have to run our work past the lawyers. There could be three broad outcomes. 1 - Story marked legally clean, fine to publish. 2 - Story must add legal marks raised by the lawyers, and be checked again. 3 - Story marked "commercially acceptable risk". Number 3 was what you were aiming for if you wanted job security and/or promotion.
croon 6y ago
TL;DR: Motion to dismiss by NYT was denied.
- blfr 6y ago
  There's a little more to it. It apparently allows Project Veritas to do discovery, depose NYT writers, etc.
  - sitkack 6y ago
    The difference in accuracy standards that are applied to the NYT vs Fox News is astronomical. Now that they can move to discovery, is the full power of capital going to dump all the resources necessary to crack open the NYT? Is this the NYTs Hogan Sextape?
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    That's literally what every litigant gets to do if their case isn't thrown out at the front door, so there's really not more to it than that. This is literally a “you’ve met the bar of presenting a case that makes justiciable claims” decision, which is a pretty low bar.
shlant 6y ago
The title might be misinterpreted. They have NOT won any lawsuit. "The judge ruled the lawsuit can GO FORWARD, finding that Project Veritas showed sufficient evidence that The New York Times MAY have been motivated by “actual malice” and acted with “reckless disregard” when it ran several articles against the investigative journalism outfit."[1] (emphasis mine) 1. https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/22/project-veritas-wins-early-round-in-defamation-lawsuit-against-new-york-times/ https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/22/project-veritas-wins-ea...

21 points by thinkingemote 6y ago

thinkingemote 6y ago

I thought this gives an interesting very legal focused impression on the news story.

samizdis 6y ago
The legal discussion is nicely presented, but I am also interested in the news v narrative struggle: > ... journalism professors have publicly called for an end of objectivity in journalism as too constraining for reporters in seeking “social justice.” This trend toward advocacy journalism has led to polls showing record lows in terms of trust for the media. The cost of the changing view of journalism may not only be in the loss of core trust but of core legal protections. I am firmly in the camp of separating news from comment. Certainly, run a comment piece next to the news piece, but don't present opinion as news. As an aside, many years ago as a sub-editor (copy editor) on a UK tabloid, we would often have to run our work past the lawyers. There could be three broad outcomes. 1 - Story marked legally clean, fine to publish. 2 - Story must add legal marks raised by the lawyers, and be checked again. 3 - Story marked "commercially acceptable risk". Number 3 was what you were aiming for if you wanted job security and/or promotion.

croon 6y ago

TL;DR: Motion to dismiss by NYT was denied.

blfr 6y ago
There's a little more to it. It apparently allows Project Veritas to do discovery, depose NYT writers, etc.
- sitkack 6y ago
  The difference in accuracy standards that are applied to the NYT vs Fox News is astronomical. Now that they can move to discovery, is the full power of capital going to dump all the resources necessary to crack open the NYT? Is this the NYTs Hogan Sextape?
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  That's literally what every litigant gets to do if their case isn't thrown out at the front door, so there's really not more to it than that. This is literally a “you’ve met the bar of presenting a case that makes justiciable claims” decision, which is a pretty low bar.

shlant 6y ago

The title might be misinterpreted. They have NOT won any lawsuit. "The judge ruled the lawsuit can GO FORWARD, finding that Project Veritas showed sufficient evidence that The New York Times MAY have been motivated by “actual malice” and acted with “reckless disregard” when it ran several articles against the investigative journalism outfit."[1] (emphasis mine) 1. https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/22/project-veritas-wins-early-round-in-defamation-lawsuit-against-new-york-times/ https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/22/project-veritas-wins-ea...