A pet peeve of mine, one of several, is going after teenagers to score political points. I think all of those stories and articles should be ignored. This was a good example. Going after 19 y/o college students is another example. Who really cares what they think? Instead of debating or going after the strongest ideas and people in the opposition, it is so much easier to go after some teens, then claim that they represent what is wrong with whatever you dislike about your political opponents.
I am guessing the standard must be pretty low and nothing happens. Remember back on all the awful stuff said about the Florida high school kids after the shooting. AFAICT nothing happened then.
Sadly, I think it’s even worse than that. We don’t know what story was there and probably never will. There are all sorts of significant details that have likely been unreported or reported wrong. This is the rush to get the story on steroids.
My wife knows Nathan Phillips, some of the members of his group thought they heard war whoops and racial comments from the kids, the kids thought they heard racial comments from a Black group of protesters there. All possible, all pretty irrelevant. Diverse protesters need a little elbow room I think.
As soon as I saw this was about teens I initially just ignored it so when I saw Covington I first thought you might be talking about the basketball player. He stirred a bit of controversy among Sixers fans but I thought he was a pretty good 3 and D guy. 39% from he 3 point line is pretty good for a role player. Better than Korver last year IIRC. Then I realized you dont do sports so I had to go look it up. (Some of the sports stuff on line is awfully vicious too. I think it is just this medium.)
What a sh!t-show.
No story there, media hoped there was.
A pet peeve of mine, one of several, is going after teenagers to score political points. I think all of those stories and articles should be ignored. This was a good example. Going after 19 y/o college students is another example. Who really cares what they think? Instead of debating or going after the strongest ideas and people in the opposition, it is so much easier to go after some teens, then claim that they represent what is wrong with whatever you dislike about your political opponents.
Steve
I wonder what’s the legal liability of the media and some politicians here.
Since the kids weren’t public figures before this story or seeking to become public figures; the standard for deframation may be met.
I am guessing the standard must be pretty low and nothing happens. Remember back on all the awful stuff said about the Florida high school kids after the shooting. AFAICT nothing happened then.
Steve
Sadly, I think it’s even worse than that. We don’t know what story was there and probably never will. There are all sorts of significant details that have likely been unreported or reported wrong. This is the rush to get the story on steroids.
You mean the standard for legal liability must be pretty high.
As you point out; if it keeps happening; someone will test that standard eventually.
The standard is high. It requires actual malice which is quite hard to prove, especially with a one-off story.
My wife knows Nathan Phillips, some of the members of his group thought they heard war whoops and racial comments from the kids, the kids thought they heard racial comments from a Black group of protesters there. All possible, all pretty irrelevant. Diverse protesters need a little elbow room I think.
lets face it, outrage sells and if parlayed well leads to a your own show on cable news or talk radio, let alone book sales, political office, etc.
Alex Jones and Infowars have been sued, or threatened by lawsuits, several times over the past decade. I don’t know, however, if any were successful.
Tom Maguire has a good wisecrack about the original story:
As soon as I saw this was about teens I initially just ignored it so when I saw Covington I first thought you might be talking about the basketball player. He stirred a bit of controversy among Sixers fans but I thought he was a pretty good 3 and D guy. 39% from he 3 point line is pretty good for a role player. Better than Korver last year IIRC. Then I realized you dont do sports so I had to go look it up. (Some of the sports stuff on line is awfully vicious too. I think it is just this medium.)
Steve