Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment of the Constitution is a gift that mass communicators in America should never take for granted. With our freedom to freely communicate, there are law put into place to keep communicators from committing defamation. Defamation is an expression that tends to damage a person’s standing in the community through words that attack an individual’s character or professional abilities. There are two types of defamation: Libel which is written defamation and slander which is spoken defamation. Now that online platforms as means of communication has gained popularity, the United States judicial system has seen an abundance of cases regarding online defamation.
One such online defamation case that I recenly came across was Scheff vs. Bock (2006). Carey Bock hired Sue Scheff’s company to help get her kids out of a boarding school in Costa Rica. Scheff referred Bock over to a consultant to get her kids out. The consultant was successful, but apparently Bock was not satisfied with how Bock handled the situation. So to “get her back”, Bock posted defamatory comments on an online forum, calling Scheff a con artist, crook and fraud. So, Scheff sued and was awarded 11.3 million dollars!
This case must be used as a lesson to all mass communicators. Though the internet may be viewed as a more relaxed platform than traditional broadcast and print news, the same defamation laws apply. Many journalists maintain blogs, but it should never be used to propel personal attacks against people they disagree with.
Below is a YouTube clip that explains how to avoid online defamation.
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