Could MTP be sued for slander/libel over this morning's exchange?

[mouse7]

This portion is a repost of dsc's letter to the WP. I'm using it simply to spare myself retyping the same info...

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borrowed from dsc's post...

"The following is quoted from the official transcript of Meet the Press, 11 January, 2004:

MR. BRODER: I saw the same kind of contrast when I was out there earlier this week. Gephardt gave a pep talk to about 175 union business agents and staff people who’d come in from around the country. I’d say it was about 98 percent male and the median size of these guys, about 6’3”, 250 pounds. Then I went over to...

MR. RUSSERT: My kind of guy.

MR. BRODER: Then I went over to the Dean headquarters, they’re young, they’re female, they’re gay, and they’re small. And I thought to myself, I hope those Gephardt guys don’t run into the Dean people. You know it would be a bad scene.

I am astonished at the depth to which your paper's star columnist has chosen to take our discourse. First, it is so utterly stereotypical. I am trying to imagine, without success, any columnist thinking he could do this sort of thing to supporters of Al Sharpton or Carol Moseley Braun. It is literally unthinkable. I realize that close-minded people like Mr. Broder will be astonished to hear this but gay people come in all shapes and sizes. We are, or at least some of us are, Mr. Russert's kind of guy. Astonishing, but true. We are, drum roll please, real live humans just like any other.

But Mr. Broder's statement has even more problems. As astonishing as it may seem, there are some laborers who actually think gays are decent people. And I have even heard that most of them respect women and wouldn't beat them up for sport. Of course, your close minded columnist wouldn't know that, or at least shows no evidence of actually knowing that. So Mr. Broder managed to smear laborers with nasty stereotypes too.

But, like the commercials, there is still more offensive things in Mr. Broder's bizarre statement. Some of us, for reasons which apparently escape Mr. Broder, find violence against women and gays to be something other than a laughing matter (the transcript doesn't mention laughter but it was there). It is hard to find a gay who doesn't know someone who was, or wasn't himself, attacked for being gay. For those of us who have been there it is no laughing matter. Mr. Broder should know better.

I know that gays and lesbians are among the last minorities for which conduct like Mr. Broder's is still acceptable, so I won't even bother asking you to discipline him for these hurtful and bizarre statements. But, you can, and should, be issuing apologies to Dean's supporters, Gephardt's supporters, gays and lesbians, and women in general. People in that same discussion wondered why the people on the Dean blog would be so down on the press. Your paper, in the person of Mr. Broder, gave a text book example. Your readers deserve better. Your country deserves better. Do better."

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The question I have... Is there a slander/libel suit here against these "journalists?" This is one of the most offensive discussions I've ever witnessed on broadcast television. Isn't there an accuracy standard they are forced to be held to, and if they have breeched that, is there a lawsuit?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. I'll say it. Broder's comment is much worse than anything that.....

Russert the "HO" has ever said. This comment was a form of BIGOTRY!

NBC, the Whorington Post, and Mr. Broder need to appoligize immediatly!

BASTARD BRODER :puke:

[anti-bush]

7. Can you tell me

what the bigotry there was? Is it bigotry to say that Dean's supporters are younger than Gephardt's? Is it bigotry to say Dean has more female supporters than Gephardt? Is it bigotry to say Dean has more gay supporters than Gephardt? Is it bigotry to say that Gephardt's Labor Union workers tend to be brawnier than the smaller Dean supporters?

I just don't get why people are up in arms about this. You've missed the previous parts of the discussion comparing the two camps, and missed that this was a comparison of their typical supporters.

As far as "Sandalgate" goes, I think he could have done without the generalization, but I think we all know what he was talking about when he referred to the "sandal wearing Democrats".

I wear my Dr. Martin sandals all the time, by the way, and take no offense to being labeled as a typical Dean supporter (which I'm not).

[Padraig18]

2. No slander.

Just piss-poor journalism, and a total lack of class...

[Wickerman]

3. I think Broder is gone

mentally. He now longer seems sharp or even resembling precise. Look for a "retirement" soon. I would hope this expedites it. Shameful. And at one brief time I respected him.

[Eric J in MN]

4. No legal case.

There hasn't been a successful lawsuit for group-libel (as far as I know) since the 1940s.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. He couldn't have done it about Braun's or Sharprton's supporters

Since there aren't any.

[Clark Can WIN]

6. Not Slander but

tasteless, definately.

[jburton]

8. Nobody watches MTP, really

I did, but keep in mind its target demographic (political junkies) is razor thin.

The only way anything on MTP really sways anything is if a clip of it is replayed on other programs like nightly news. I doubt the ramblings of Broder would be replayed, they usually only replay quotes from candidates/elected officials.

[SahaleArm]

9. MTP beats the debates 4x1 in viewership n/t