Online Journalism Same As Print/TV

jeffy124 writes "The NY State Supreme Court has ruled that online journalists have the same rights/protection as do print and television journalists in issues of public importance. The decision comes from the case of National Bank of Mexico v. Narconews.com, which last year reported that the bank's then-president was involved with narcotics trafficking. The bank claimed the allegations were fabricated and demanded the story be retracted. The court ruled that the online journalist was protected under the First Amendment, referring to the case NY Times v. Sullivan, the case that gave freedom of the press." Update: 12/12 16:23 GMT by T : gregorovius writes with a correction: "Banamex is a private bank that has no relationship whatsoever with the National Bank of Mexico, which is our government's FED equivalent. It must be noted that from some months ago Banamex is not even a Mexican bank; it's an American bank that operates in Mexico, being owned in its entirety by Citigroup."

Comments

Unsettling contradiction

[Walter Bell]

As a former paralegal, I can say with some certainty that this verdict directly contradicts the ComputerXpress vs. John Doe decision in California a few weeks back, which states that proving defamation from online sources requires a higher standard of evidence than from print sources. After reading this verdict I am left with the distinct impression that this judge has put online publications on an equal footing with printed publications, which may be a Bad Thing(tm) depending on just how easy it is to publish content. After all, many things that aren't intended to be published on the web seem to make it there anyway.

~wally