Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
So as an aside, I posted the Jan 19th ad from Canadianlisting. What if we, the Gawker and The Star and Ford have been made the victim of one of the greatest pranks of all time.
What's the legal shakedown that happens fromthat.
What if this was some guys who shot a fake video with a Ford look alike.
Does Ford have legal avenues?
If it was a prank, were any crimes actually broken.
This is all hypothetical
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I think this would be a test of the relatively new (2009) libel laws regarding journalistic rights. It's referred to as responsible communication on matters of public interest. There's two tests:
a) that it's a matter of public interest.
b) was it reported in a diligent manner (sources checked, the importance and urgency taken into account, was the plaintiff's side checked, etc.).
http://www.lexology.com/library/deta...b-43efa9292f4a
I imagine that in this hypothetical scenario, it easily passes the first condition, but that there would be great debate about the second, since it's not a black and white statement. I won't pretend I have any idea which side of the fence this one would fall on, and a lot of it would depend on the details of the prank in your hypothetical.
edit: hypothetical aside, if the video does not surface and Ford decides he's going to go after the media sources, it would probably still hinge on the same points: for the Star, was there an urgency in publishing when they did; did they reasonably check into their source and determine that it was plausible that he could have recorded this video; did they attempt to get Ford's side of the story; to what extent were they making allegations about Ford, and to what extent were they reporting Gawker's allegations?