San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders offered thoughts in somewhat of a similar vein to what I wrote a couple of posts ago about writing newspapers’ obituary too early.
The Chronicle like other papers has been hit by the economic crisis and its owner the Hearst Corporation is faced with a choice of selling or shuttering San Francisco’s main newspaper.
Saunders noted that trashing the local newspaper has long been a favorite national pastime. She has done it. I have done it. It could be ranting over a story or simply making fun of the paper’s name such as calling a publication named the “Sentinel” the “Senile.” A man once said of a paper I later worked for that he liked to read that newspaper before going to bed so that he wouldn’t go to bed with anything on his mind, a comment that I feel was pretty humorous. But once again the point she brought up was leaving the news to amateurs who would like to see the MSM disappear and who really do not report the news so much as opine about it would not be a healthy happening.
Here is something else. I read today where a judge in Fort Worth is ordering the news aggregator Topix.net to turn over the names of some 178 anonymous individuals who flamed, or made derisive comments, about a couple who were charged with but later acquitted on sexual assault charges. The couple filed a defamation suit against the unnamed commentators but for whatever reason didn’t sue the online news site.
Whether such an order can be upheld remains to be seen in light of other court rulings on anonymous comments. But those who see themselves as ‘net crusaders and the righteous alternative to the MSM should have at least the basic understanding of libel laws or have an attorney knowledgeable in the subject because, believe me, many more lawsuits will come.