Comment by wolverine876
1 year ago
> In other countries you can say untrue and critical things as long as you don't know they are untrue.
In case it's not clear, in democracies a private citizen can knowingly say false things about public figures, especially political figures. A private citizen can sue you if you damage their reputation. Journalists can't usually knowingly publish falsehoods as news, but can as opinion. (Generally speaking; each country has its own implementations, of course.)
> democracies a private citizen can knowingly say false things about public figure
That is not true.
> Journalists can't usually knowingly publish falsehoods as news, but can as opinion
Also not true.
In the USA, journalists and private individuals have the same free speech rights and there no legal distinction between "opinion" and "news", it just matters if a reasonable person would see a statement of fact.
>> democracies a private citizen can knowingly say false things about public figure
> That is not true.
President Biden kicks puppies and secretly owns $2B in BTC, and the SEC manipulates the price for him. Can Biden sue me? Can I be arrested?
The Constitution provides special protection for the press, as do many other laws, precedents, etc. What are your claims based on?
> Can Biden sue me?
Yes, but you can sue anyone for anything. You not being a "journalist" doesn't provide any additional protection. Biden being a public figure does though, as he would have to demonstrate "actual malice" on your part to win.
> Can I be arrested?
Only about 1/4 of states in the USA have criminal libel laws and I am not familiar enough with them to say which if any would apply.
> The Constitution provides special protection for the press, as do many other laws, precedents
The supreme court has consistently ruled that "the press" in the first ammendment covers anyone publishing anything in any format, not just journalists. The constitution provides no special protections for journalists but instead extends those rights to everyone.
See: Associated Press v. NLRB, Bartnicki v. Vopper, Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. and more.
Most states do have "media shield laws" that specifically help journalists protect their sources, but these aren't constitutional rights. A district court in Branzburg v. Hayes did rule that a blogger didn't qualify as a journalist under Oregon's media shield law, but that was strongly influenced by the blogger soliciting payment to take the article down so isn't conclusive even there.
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