Prince Lobel Tye LLP Media Law Practice Group Chair Rob Bertsche believes that the libel case against the New York Post should be dismissed, because, “The information came from an official source/document, which is protected under the state’s fair report privileges, and the information is ‘literally’ true.’”
The two men whose photographs appeared on the cover and inside pages of the Post claim that the paper falsely portrayed them as suspects in last April’s marathon bombing.
Rob added, “I think it’s important to make a distinction between bad journalism and illegal journalism. And many people can say — and they may be correct — that there was some bad journalism going on here, but I think all of us are put in peril if we allow a court to decide issues of the quality of journalism as opposed to whether someone has been defamed by a false statement about them.” Bertsche says it was a “stupid” choice of words and photos, but, nonetheless, the story was based on truth.
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