"The rabbit's got the gun now," said a lawyer for former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who is trying to force reporter Anna Wolfe to reveal her sources.
There is no prosecutor involved here. She is being civilly sued for defamation. She might go to jail if she defies a subpoena to turn over internal records that include confidential sources.
Overall it seems like the ex governor might actually have a leg to stand on in court, but the bar for defamation is high. I think it’s unlikely that, if this went to court, the ex governor would win. I expect this to be settled before actually being argued in court, though.
He doesn’t have to prove jack shit if the judge is ordering them to turn over their internal documents as part of the case. The judge might look them over, decide there’s nothing relevant, and dismiss the case, but it won’t matter. The damage will already be done because sources will be less likely to trust them in the future.
You’re right, it does. He’s pretty unlikely to win in court, but lawyers are expensive. I expect they’ll reach a settlement just to avoid paying lawyers. Journalists aren’t known for having deep pockets to pay legal fees, unfortunately.
There is no prosecutor involved here. She is being civilly sued for defamation. She might go to jail if she defies a subpoena to turn over internal records that include confidential sources.
Overall it seems like the ex governor might actually have a leg to stand on in court, but the bar for defamation is high. I think it’s unlikely that, if this went to court, the ex governor would win. I expect this to be settled before actually being argued in court, though.
He was/is a public figure, I thought that made defamation a lot harder to claim?
He doesn’t have to prove jack shit if the judge is ordering them to turn over their internal documents as part of the case. The judge might look them over, decide there’s nothing relevant, and dismiss the case, but it won’t matter. The damage will already be done because sources will be less likely to trust them in the future.
You’re right, it does. He’s pretty unlikely to win in court, but lawyers are expensive. I expect they’ll reach a settlement just to avoid paying lawyers. Journalists aren’t known for having deep pockets to pay legal fees, unfortunately.
You just brought that up and I did a quick search says that Mississippi does not have any anti-SLAPP laws… That blows…