Did those media outlets state that Rittenhouse was a white supremacist as a factual statement? Admittedly I don’t follow the mainstream news outlets that much,

Did those media outlets state that Rittenhouse was a white supremacist as a factual statement? Admittedly I don’t follow the mainstream news outlets that much, but I never recall seeing that. Some opinion columnists might have wrote an opinion that he was a white supremacist, but that is protected speech. It’s also protected for news organizations to report when other notable people call Rittenhouse a white supremacist. They’d also be protected if they called him a white supremacist and they had evidence, like finding him writing the 14 words. But stating lies as facts when you either know their lies or have reason to suspect they’re lies and don’t check (reckless disregard for the truth) opens you up to defamation. Defamation is actually very hard to prove. News organizations have been hit for defamation before but they typically don’t report in a way that they make factual claims they can’t prove. That’s why you often see news call politicians lies “incorrect statements” rather than lies. Now, Jones elected to not comply with discovery and, as a result, defaulted on his lawsuit. Therefore we don’t know if he would have been found liable for defamation had he made a good faith effort to comply with the court. But we do know that the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories were lies, and we have good reason to believe Alex knew or suspected that based on his own statements and evidence produced during the depositions.