Saturday, July 30, 2005

Libel Suit Against the NY Slimes is Back On

The NY Slimes is deservingly being sued for libel by the Dr. that Nicholas Kristof of the Slimes basically implied was the perpetrator of the Anthrax mail-o-grams. The intial suit was initially tossed out, but now has been reinstated.
McLEAN, Va. - A federal appeals court has reinstated a libel suit against the New York Times filed by a former Army scientist who claims one of the paper's columnists unfairly linked him to the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001.

Steven Hatfill sued the Times for a series of columns written by Nicholas Kristof that faulted the FBI for failing to thoroughly investigate Hatfill for the anthrax mailings that left five people dead.

The initial columns identified Hatfill only as "Mr. Z," but subsequent columns named him after Hatfill stepped forward to deny any role in the killings. Federal authorities labeled Hatfill "a person of interest" in their investigation.

Last year, a federal judge tossed out Hatfill's lawsuit, ruling that the columns did not defame Hatfill and accurately reflected the state of the FBI's investigation.

But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned the rule Thursday on a 2-1 vote, saying that Kristof's columns, taken as a whole, might be considered defamatory.

The NY Slimes DOES need to be held accountable for the lies and slander that they casually toss around, and if more victims of their cavalier attitude and bias were to sue them, then maybe they would rein themselves in, and report actual facts and truths. The MSM has been getting away with murder as to their overzealous abuse of the facts and their opinions, all in the name of the 1st Amendment, but that does not absolve them of the responsibility to report the facts without thinking on whom it maybe hurting or what the consequences may be. Yes, the NY Slimes does need to be sued, and I hope Dr. Hatfill wins.


Mr Minority