First he went after Gawker. Now Jezebel is under fire | Hacker News Reader

First he went after Gawker. Now Jezebel is under fire

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7 pointstaylodl4 comments

Are we supposed to feel sorry, or defend, the existence of this divisive, clickbait driven trash?

You should feel the urge to defend journalists from vexatious lawsuits... I honestly think the Hogan story was protected speech and Gawker would have prevailed under a more sane legal regime, but even if you disagree, Harder & his firm have represented the following cases:

* Shiva Ayyadurai sued Gawker for an article they wrote where they stated he didn't invent email. Gawker settled for $750k while in bankruptcy proceedings to clear the debts.

* Shiva Ayyadurai sued Techdirt for an article they wrote where they stated he didn't invent email. Just this week the case was dismissed because it's ludicrous.

* Sarah Palin sued NYTimes for an editorial where they included a sentence about a "clear link" from the Gabby Giffords shooting to a map that Palin's PAC had released with Giffords' district under crosshairs. They corrected the article after people rightly called them out about the investigation never finding any link to the map. This case was recently dismissed.

* RJ Bell suing Deadspin for an article exposing his gambling operation.

* Roger Ailes suing NY Magazine for writing an article exposing his sexual harrassment at Fox News.

* Edward Avari suing Gawker for an article where they questioned whether Trump had received hair treatments from Avari while they shared office space in Trump Tower.

* Chuck Johnson suing Gawker for an article calling the racist troll a racist troll.

The vast majority of his cases are representing extremely rich people who sue blogs and newspapers for writing unflattering pieces -- He's basically the anti-ACLU. The rulings which most protect the freedom of the press have their origins in Southern states suing Northern newspapers for minor discrepancies in articles about the horrendous human rights violations that were taking place in the South (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan). These new cases are no less chilling.

If I see any actual journalists being sued in vexatious lawsuits, I have no doubt that I'll feel the urge to defend them. Sorry, that doesn't include gossip rags and muckrakers. Exposing the private sexual activities of Hulk Hogan and any parties he has intercourse with is not journalism and does not implicate freedom of press as far as I am concerned. Why not also publish the private nude photos of "The Fappening" under the guise of "reporting" that those actresses happen to be the types of people who take nude photos of themselves? Is that too journalism?

The people associated with these organizations have a history of going after people they don't like, and using the power of media to attack them. Yet now we're supposed to side with them when the people they've attacked strike back using the power of the courts?

I respectfully decline to sympathize with them.

Not just journalists, it's quickly becoming the corporate goto for people that post bad reviews of products on youtube and things along those lines.

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