2y ago

Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business

www.nytimes.com

If behind a paywall you can read it here: https://archive.li/az14v

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jeffw @lemmy.world

2y ago

Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business

www.nytimes.com /2023/08/15/business/media/antigay-slur-wausau-pilot-review.html

11 comments

- witnesses to the incident recall Tomczyk calling the child the "f-slur" and prior usage of similar language
  https://truthout.org/articles/gop-lawmaker-is-suing-newspaper-into-bankruptcy-for-reporting-on-homophobic-slur/
  
  Tomczyk himself admitted in a deposition that he used the word occasionally.
  Also worth noting he uses the word unapologetically to refer to his gay brother both "out of joking and out of spite."
  It's a part of his normal vocabulary.
- Got sued and the judge dismissed it because Tomczyk did call a 13yo a fag.
- Also, three more people corroborated that he said the slur. Cory Tomczyk is a piece of shit. Sue me, asshat. That was an opinion, not a fact. Though the fact remains that you're a petty bitch.
Why it's a newspaper's problem if he's a hateful moron. Imagine calling a child a faggot, even personally. It's so wrong and sad. For a child, for a reporter, and for he is the one to play victim and charge them.
Can't SLAAP be applied here? This sound like something that should qualify, to me, but not a lawyer and probably pretty ignorant.
- SLAPP isn't a law, it's a way to describe abuse of the system that's mostly legal as long as it doesn't reach the point of frivolity.
  
  Thanks, that's a useful distinction. But I'm still curious why it wouldn't apply here? The paper can clearly show that it reported in good-faith, so why isn't it possible to countersue the politician who clearly is trying to harm them via the courts? I would think this would allow them to pursue financial relief for their legal troubles. I must be missing something fundamental about what SLAAP can and cannot provide.

11 comments