Venzuela sues CNN -- CNN calls its actions "errors" and "juxtaposition"

[KurtNYC]

This seemed like a hopeless lawsuit by Venzuela. If Gary Condit was not slandered by 3 months of lies then no one has a hope of suing the MSM for slander. But CNN is not brushing it off. They seem to treat this with some seriousness. They issued a retraction and then another statement, not sure what to call it...

Regarding using footage of Mexico under a story about Venzuela:
The news network acknowledged a video mix-up, and "aired a detailed correction and expressed regret for the involuntary error".

Then about their general everyday slant they said this:
Regarding the Al-Qaeda leader, the networks that "unrelated news stories can be juxtaposed in a given programme segment

Like say stories about 911 and stories about Saddam, etc. etc.

(And if Chavez wins, then Barack Obama has a lot of money coming -- how many times have they called
him "Osama" ? )

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/print/278947/1/.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Chavez is a public figure. End of story.

Probably would be completely legal even if CNN did do it on purpose.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. I believe they are suing in Venzuela. I have no idea what their laws

are concerning libel and slander, do you?

[Kagemusha]

5. You're serious? They're not suing in the US?

They're going to run an exterritoriality slander law?

I guess I stand corrected, but lord, that is one hell of a bad idea.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. CNN broadcasts around the world.

Why would they want to sue here in the US where they are not going to get a fair hearing and will have to deal with our relatively weak slander laws?

[Kagemusha]

9. Uh because the company is incorporated on US soil?

I assume the broadcasts physically originated from the US?

Seriously, I have never heard of any country suing an international broadcaster in this manner. It's scandalous and a prima facia farce.

[KurtNYC]

4. Public doesn't matter -- the standard for libel is malice or reckless disregard

Last March marked the 40th anniversary of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public official cannot recover damages for a defamatory falsehood about his official conduct "unless he proves that the statement was made with 'actual malice'-that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not."


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3677/is_200501/ai_n13634099

[truedelphi]

3. Let's watch this one closely

Maybe it will give us our day in the sun!

[NotGivingUp]

6. fuck you cnn. i hope you rot in hell. nt

[peacetalksforall]

8. Delete - dupe

[RL3AO]

10. Venzuela sues CNN is such a hillarious headline.

Something about it cracks me up.

[peacetalksforall]

11. In 2007 CNN used Mexico film and pretended it was Venezuela.

Unbelievable. Perhaps it wasn't a mistake. I don't remember when it happened, but one day a long time ago, I realized that every Hispanic in the world was Mexican as far as Hollywood was concerned. I couldn't bare to watch anything Indian or Hispanic because it was so phony. I think I developed a credibility meter early on. It's one of the reasons I hold disdain for this PNACer White House - they didn't even stop to learn that Iraq was the Cradle of Civilization, that there is tribe and sect heritage. I should give them credit for recognizing that Kurds were different. I think they learned that. And Rumsfeld knew that he couldn't run jeeps in Afghanistan as easily as he could in Iraq which was an early stated reason for fighting in Iraq. Then we have the situation where many people in this country think all Central Americans are all Mexicans.

Lastly, some people I know who lean left think CNN is supposed to be the liberal network. So much work to be done. So many people to teach.