Why Kerry should sue the Sun

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday February 19, 2004
The Guardian

One question remains unanswered about the politically inspired lie that Senator John Kerry had had an affair with an "intern". Which interested source planted it with the rightwing internet hooligan Matt Drudge and with the conservative British newspapers that put it into wide public play? Its timing was fortuitous. Immediately after George Bush went into a tailspin, falling behind the Democratic presidential frontrunner, John Kerry, in the polls, Kerry became the subject of smears filled with remembrance of things past.

<snip>

On February 13, on the eve of Valentine's Day, Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper screeched, "New JFK rocked by sex scandal", naming the woman as Alexandra Polier and quoting her father as calling Kerry "a sleazeball". On February 15, the Tory papers, the Mail and the Telegraph, quoted her "friend": "This is not going to go away. What actually happened is much nastier than what is being reported." Murdoch's Sunday Times repeated the "sleazeball" quote and winked knowingly: "It is a tale of two Americas, as the Democrats might say."

<snip>

On February 16, Polier spoke for herself, declaring the story "completely false" and explaining her motive in stepping forward. "Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them. It seems that efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them." It turned out she was not even an intern. Her father said that the notorious "sleazeball" quote attributed to him had been fabricated. Drudge, ever gallant, blamed the story on the young woman's imagined seductive behaviour: "Polier's flippant remarks and flirtatious manner, according to friends, fuelled the intrigue."

<snip>

In the US, there is virtually no legal protection for a public figure, especially a political one, from defamation. Libel laws are de facto defunct. Public opinion is inevitably swayed by this tainting, all journalism has fallen under suspicion and truth cannot easily be distinguished from malicious fiction. Only if Kerry (or Polier) were to sue the Sun under British libel law, for example, would this transatlantic corruption of the press be truly engaged. Then a British court would begin to set important rules in American politics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1151345,00.html

[SinkingInTheRain]

1. Can the Guardian be trusted?

That is the big question.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. You must've missed the byline - Sidney Blumenthal

[MurikanDemocrat]

2. Sidney Blumenthal should know better than anyone how dirty

Drudge and the right-wing machine plays. He was one of their favorite targets.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. better case for Papa Polier suing the Post. if it was the Post who

quoted him as calling Kerry a "sleazeball" etc.

No matter what you think of the Sun, all they did was pick up on Drudge, who said, there's this rumor. And then the Sun and all these other papers went on with it.

But if whoever told me it was actually the Post who first printed the quote from Mr. Polier, that is a whole nother show.

Mr. Polier is NOT a public figure, and if the quotes attributed to him were fabricated, he ought to have some kind of redress.

The problem is, the Post's lawyers, will, and should, argue that he was not harmed by a paper saying he did not like a particular politician.

I am still wondering what the Post's advertisers are saying to the publisher....

[calimary]

5. Hey, celebs have sued the Enquirer and won. Why not in this case?

If a lawsuit ever had a deserving target, it's Matt Drudge.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. Your 'public figure' argument only applies to US libel law.

Did you read the article?

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. Yes, I did. The Post is a US paper though, so British law won't help

I think Polier should demand a retraction and apology from the Post.

That would force them to admit they made the quote up, and stop speculation on why his opinion underwent such a rapid change in the course of 3 days.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. Perhaps you didn't notice the title: "Why Kerry should sue the Sun"

lol

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. I would imagine Kerry would not want to sue anybody at this point

To the best of my knowledge, he is in the middle of a campaign for public office in the US, and if I were advising him, I would suggest that he not take a few days off to go to England to sue the Sun for echoing what an American said about a rumor.

Once Drudge published "there's this rumor," whether the rumor is true or not is irrelevant.

Now the story is as much "Drudge said there's a rumor" - arguably even more of a story, because while a rumor can be nothing, or it can be something but not provable, it is a FACT that Drudge published it.

The Sun reported that fact, and they did some camping on yards and asking, and echoed what I understand is a quote first published by the Post.

I don't like the idea that if I have a newspaper, I can publish an article and say "When asked his opinion of Janet Jackson's bosom, Feanorcurufinwe said it was 'too small for her, and her nipple jewelry is totally last year's'" - when in fact you did not say that, maybe you didn't even talk to a reporter from my paper at all.

Yet what can you do? How can you show you were harmed by that, without incurring a lot of expense, and a lot more reporters camping in your yard.

I am suggesting that giving the Post the option of printing a retraction, and an apology for fabricating the quote will ALSO be picked up by the Sun, if what you are worried about is what English people think about the whole thing. But mostly it will be some consequences for the Post, and an abortion for the predictable speculative stories that will ensue if the Post does NOT retract.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. Sorry, the quote was first published in the Sun and the whole point

of the article is that because of the difference in libel laws between US and UK, the Sun could be successfully sued. All your discussion of the Post is completely off-topic.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. Didn't you say it was the Post yesterday? It would be even screwier

for Kerry to sue them for making up a quote of someone else.

I am talking about the quote from Mr. Polier, not any remarks attributed to Kerry, factual or otherwise.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. I don't really know why you are talking about off-topic subjects

not discussed in the article or in the thread, and I don't know why you are attributing statements to me that I didn't make.

[DuctapeFatwa]

13. LOL I don't think you are going to have very good luck in your quest

Whether the Sun or the Post said it first, or whether it was you or someone else who told me it was the Post the quote that your article mentions is in fact attributed to Mr. Polier, not Kerry.

I do not think that Kerry should sue the Sun.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

15. Now you are saying I'm on a 'quest'?

Just how obsessed am I? :eyes:

[genius]

14. Correct, as a public figure, Kerry couldn't win in the U.S.

However, U.K. laws are very different.

[TheWebHead]

16. actually Drudge should be sued for other reasons

Every image on his website is hotlinked from others and he doesn't pay for the rights to display them. As someone who brags about how much he makes from his link-farm, he should be held accountable for paying photo agencies for rights. I'd suggest e-mailing the legal departments at Yahoo, Canadian Press, and Reuters, whom he frequently lifts images from.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. Hotlinking of images on the web is a gray area.

Hardly a slam-dunk case.