“… ‘Weaponized defamation’ refers to the increasing invocation, and increasing use, of defamation and privacy torts by people in power to threaten press investigations, despite laws protecting responsible or non-reckless reporting. In the United States, for example, some politicians, including the current president, invoke defamation as both a sword and shield. Armed with legal power that individuals – and most news organizations – cannot match, politicians and celebrities, wealthy or backed by the wealth of others, can threaten press watchdogs with resource-sapping litigation; at the same time, some leaders appear to leverage their ‘lawyered-up’ legal teams to make knowingly false attacks – or recklessly repeat the false attacks of
others – with impunity. Papers should have an international or comparative focus that engages historical, contemporary or emerging issues relating to fake news or ‘weaponized defamation’ …” (more)
First posted 2017-08-09 11:57:37
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