If Sarah Palin wins her defamation suit against the New York Times, the far right which is relishing "sticking it" to the establishment and the main stream media, may before too long rue the day.
If the Times, which maintains that the error was unintentional and quickly corrected looses, what does that mean for Fax and the even less scrupulous so calls "news" channels? The alleged offense was not in the paper's reporting but in its editorial, in other words an opinion piece. If the standard for defamation is relaxed and the protection from legal action the media have had enjoyed disappears, Fox and its kind will either have to clean up their act. It has claimed that there is a distinction between its news programs and its opinion programming.
If an opinion piece in the Times is cause for a successful defamation suit, Hanity, Ingraham, Carlson and Shapiro may be in for a rough ride. Perhaps those on the right should be a little more careful what they wish for.
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