Pulitzer winning reporter faces jail for protecting funding scandal sources
nbcnews.com
nbcnews.com
> In May 2023 — a few days after the Pulitzer announcement — Quin sent Mississippi Today a notice of his intention to sue, citing the “embezzlement” remark.
Why are the journalists in trouble if the lawsuit is about something the CEO said?
The sources are held by the journalists.
The journalists will face prison if they do not comply with the court order to turn over their sources.
I guess the key here is the he wants to show that it was done with malice. It seems, unlike in other countries/jurisdictions, a defamation lawsuit requires proving malice. So one way to prove it would be to show that whatever sources the journalists had definitely did not indicate the governor was embezzling, but the CEO claimed he did. Therefore, she did it with malice? It's quite complicated to follow.
So what gives, does the governor feel pretty confident he is innocent and sources won't show anything? What if he sources reveal he did embezzle? Or, does he know the source materials already, and what's in them, if someone leaked them to him or his lawyers, and now he wants to open them up in a legal way to be used as evidence. Can't say, "we found outside the court house, they feel of the truck".
They are not being sued as far as I can tell. The lawsuit is against the CEO and her company (Mississippi Today), but the court has ordered the sources to be turned over and that is held by the journalists who face prison if they do not comply with the court.
>So one way to prove it would be to show that whatever sources the journalists had definitely did not indicate the governor was embezzling, but the CEO claimed he did. Therefore, she did it with malice? It's quite complicated to follow.
Knowingly lying can arguably be an act of malice, especially if your job description is about reporting the facts. Thus the demand to see the sources, which given the argument isn't entirely unreasonable but obviously conflicts with keeping sources in confidence.
We'll see what the higher courts say, I guess.
Oh I see now. They mentioned "one of us going to prison" but I think that's probably just to make a point.
They are, in fact, being sued.
The reporter named in the article is Anna Wolfe, the editor is Adam Ganucheau, the CEO is Mary Margaret White; the named defendants in Bryant's lawsuit [0] are Deep South Today d/b/a Mississippi Today, Mary Margaret White, Adam Ganucheau & Anna Wolfe.
[0] PDF: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024...
Noticed they demanded a jury trial. I guess his lawyer feels pretty confident the guy is either innocent (seems doubtful) or that they'll be able to get a jury to go along ideological party lines.
>Bryant did not sue after the articles were published in April 2022, and, in fact, the statute of limitations on defamation claims in Mississippi lapses after one year. But in February 2023, the CEO of Mississippi Today, Mary Margaret White, mischaracterized the reporting at a journalism conference in Miami.
>“We’re the newsroom that broke the story about $77 million in welfare funds, intended for the poorest people in the poorest state in the nation, being embezzled by a former governor and his bureaucratic cronies and used on pet projects like a state-of-the-art volleyball stadium at Brett Favre’s alma mater,” she said in videotaped remarks.
>Embezzlement is a crime, and Bryant has never been charged, let alone convicted. There has been no indication he is a target of an ongoing federal investigation into the welfare fraud scandal.
>In May 2023 — a few days after the Pulitzer announcement — Quin sent Mississippi Today a notice of his intention to sue, citing the “embezzlement” remark. A week later, White issued a public apology, saying: “I misspoke at a recent media conference regarding the accusations against former Governor Phil Bryant in the $77 million welfare scandal. He has not been charged with any crime. My remark was inappropriate, and I sincerely apologize.”
For what it's worth, the former governor and his lawyer weren't satisfied with the apology and went forward with their lawsuit.
I see two sides to this. It's critical that journalistic sources be held in confidence, but it's also critical to guarantee presumption of innocence until proven guilty and that journalists don't abuse their position to spread slander.
That their entire investigation is now getting pulled in demonstrates just how stupid that CEO journalist was.
I see no need for an apology and no merit for any lawsuit. Each part of those sentences is a factual statement. No where is it said, "Then Governor Phil Bryant is an embezzler." Bryant is making his own assumptions there, because he knows what he did.
Wikipedia says, "The previous director of Mississippi's welfare agency, John Davis, who admitted to being involved and is currently working with authorities, was appointed by Phil Bryant. An attorney said, “John Davis knows of the extent of personal involvement of former Governor Bryant and Governor (Tate) Reeves and the massive waste of taxpayer money,” but said that Davis was under direction from the FBI to remain silent." (my emphasis)
Sounds like someone at the FBI is working the case. Could be some FPMITA prison in Bryant's future.
>“We’re the newsroom that broke the story about $77 million in welfare funds, intended for the poorest people in the poorest state in the nation, being embezzled by a former governor and his bureaucratic cronies and used on pet projects like a state-of-the-art volleyball stadium at Brett Favre’s alma mater,"
Emphasis mine.
That bit of alleged defamation is what the former governor is suing the CEO and her company for, and the court ordered the journalists to turn over sources as part of the trial with penalty of imprisonment if they do not comply.
She's facing jail time because the defamation case resulted in a court order to see information about her confidential sources (presumably via the discovery process). Reputable journalists don't hand over details about their confidential sources.
> [Nancy] New said that at a 2019 Christmas party, Bryant talked about Jake Vanlandingham, founder of the Florida-based biotech company Prevacus. “Governor Bryant got excited and told me that Jake had offered him ‘half the company,’ which I understood to mean a substantial amount of stock, but the Governor said he was going to have to wait until he was out of office to accept,” New wrote.
If you might recall, Brett Favre was paid $1M in speaking fees but never actually did any speeches and he advocated for government funds to be used to build a volleyball stadium at USM.
I really think the simplest defense here will be to just show that Bryant was complicit in the embezzlement just because it seems more likely than not:
> Bryant was governor from 2013 to 2020 and chose John Davis as director of the state Department of Human Services. Davis pleaded guilty in September 2022 to state and federal charges in a conspiracy to misspend tens of millions of dollars that were intended to help needy families in one of the poorest states in the U.S.
> Favre had publicly said he supported the Prevacus effort to develop a concussion drug, and the state's civil lawsuit says Favre invested more than $250,000 in the Florida-based company.
> “After the meeting, I asked John why he had committed so much funding so quickly,” New said in the court filing. “John said he had spoken with Governor Bryant and the Governor wanted Prevacus funded. John said the Governor was ‘all about this happening.’”
Now to be clear I'm not saying the governor is guilty of embezzlement. I'm just saying that it seems like everyone that he surrounded himself with seems to have been caught doing shady shit stealing from welfare funds & denying 90% of applicants to these programs. Since the former Governor makes Christianity a core part of his identity, might I remind him 1st Corinthians 15:33 "Bad company ruins good morals". And if I were the prosecutors, I'd make real sure there's no case at all against the governor cause it seems like there's some smoke there that can be fanned into a fire.
[1] https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2024/02/29/mississi...