Supreme Court to weigh in on libel vs. satire case

[Nottingham]

Supreme Court to weigh in on libel vs. satire case
Associated Press

AUSTIN - Stepping into a battle over the First Amendment and political satire, the Texas Supreme Court today agreed to hear the case of two Denton County officials who sued a newspaper over an article about the fictional arrest of a 6-year-old girl.
The Dallas Observer said the article, which some readers thought was true, was satire and designed to poke fun.

The piece, published in 1999 under the headline "Stop the Madness," was a parody of the actual arrest of a 13-year-old Ponder student for reading a graphic Halloween story to the class. The fictional story was about a girl jailed for a report on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.
Denton County Judge Darlene Whitten and District Attorney Bruce Isaacks didn't think it was funny. They say the fictional story was presented as news and damaged their reputation.

Jim Hemphill, an Austin attorney representing the newspaper's publisher, New Times Inc., writer Rose Farley and editors Julie Lyons and Patrick Williams, said the story was protected free speech.
The newspaper and its employees have tried to get the case thrown out but have twice been rejected by a lower appeals court.
"They don't think they should have to answer in a courthouse what was clearly protected political speech," Hemphill said. "This is core political speech and the very heart of the First Amendment: criticism of their elected officials

more....

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2120067

this looks like a case where they are going after the Al Frankens of the world! :bounce:

[Kenneth ken]

1. your link is bad

I got:

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I can't read the entire story, but unless the paper made clear the piece was satire, I would think they should be liable.

Al Franken made his reputation as a comdeian, so it's reasonable (in my mind) to think of most everything he writes as comedy/satire. A newspapaer, OTOH is expected to publkish factual stories, and/or opinions. I guess if the story appeared on the op-ed pages, they might have a leg to stand on; but that still seems slim.

[Nottingham]

3. If Only All the Newspapers & Networks showed the Facts

but I have found Many are writing Fiction these days

:bounce:

[Nottingham]

2. Sorry try this link!

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2120067

[Kenneth ken]

5. thanks

okay, from the story:

"Any implication of violence in a school situation, even if it was just contained in a first-grader's book report, is reason enough for panic and overreaction," Whitten was quoted. "It's time for you to grow up, young lady, and it's time for us to stop treating kids like children."

The story also included a reference to a fictional advocacy group called God-Fearing Opponents of Freedom, or GOOF.


- I will contradict myself, and say a reasonable person should probably have been able to figure out this story was meant to be satire.

Tack on the "alternative weekly" label for the paper, and they look a little more vulnerable to heavy-handed prosecution.

I'm probably about ready to agree with your initial comments.

[goforit]

4. So the pugs have nothing else to turn to????

Another method of controling freedom of the press.