[WikiEN-l] RE: Corrected

Thu May 5 21:27:23 UTC 2005

slimvirgin at gmail.com wrote:

>This is perhaps an inappopriate discussion to have in public because a
>legal action has been threatened, but in brief, the fact that you
>report, but do not endorse, a claim is not a defense in a libel
>action. If you spread it, you spread it.
>  
>
It actually is a defense, as long as you report who has alleged it, not 
claim yourself it is true.  Newspapers report on libel cases all the 
time: "X has alleged Y about Z, and Z has sued X for libel in 
response".  The newspaper cannot be sued in that case simply because it 
said "X has alleged Y about Z"---even if Y is false, the fact that X 
alleged Y is true.

-Mark