CNN report said North Carolina candidate for governor made explicit posts on website’s message board
Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, announced a lawsuit Tuesday against CNN over its recent report alleging he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board, calling the reporting reckless and defamatory.
The lawsuit, filed in Wake county superior court, comes less than four weeks after a television report that led many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. Robinson announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh.
Ooooh. Discovery, you say?
Bet that will unearth even more Nazi/Porn weirdness.
Sadly it won’t ever get to that phase. This is just so he can claim it’s a lie between now and election day. He’ll quietly drop the lawsuit about a week after the election.
I wish it were required that both parties agree to the lawsuit being dropped for it not to continue. I’d love to see this frivolous bullshit forced into a courtroom against the plaintiffs will by the defendants.
I think it’s more likely that he’ll demand to settle or simply drop the lawsuit. Typical SLAPP behaviour.
CNN will likely try to have it dismissed because the legal fees will surely be astronomical.
Real news media doesn’t make controversial statements about individuals unless they have proof. I am quite certain that before this story went to press, there were serious internal discussions at CNN about not only its validity, but about CNN’s ability to demonstrate that validity in court.
Things have been so crazy I forgot about this. Thanks for the reminder, Mark Robinson.
Right, if he hadn’t brought it up again we’d have all moved on to the next news item. Thanks Mark, and let’s see how your case goes.
“Calling the report reckless and defamatory” but not incorrect.
True. Though if you read the original CNN article, the circumstantial evidence is fairly damning. I don’t think he has any chance of getting out from under this.
Also, in a legal context, I think there very well may be a distinction between claiming a report is defamatory versus claiming it is false. As per Wikipedia:
The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions that are falsifiable
distinction between claiming a report is defamatory versus claiming it is false.
A statement is not defamatory if it’s not false. It might be embarrassing and potentially damaging, but not defamation.
“There are five essential elements to defamation: (1) The accusation is false; and (2) it impeaches the subject’s character; and (3) it is published to a third person; and (4) it damages the reputation of the subject; and (5) that the accusation is done intentionally or with fault such as wanton disregard of facts.” - Ron Hankin, Navigating the Legal Minefield of Private Investigations: A Career-Saving Guide for Private Investigators, Detectives, And Security Police, Looseleaf Law Publications, 2008, p. 59.
Well… discovery should at least be entertaining.