Week 3: Assignment and Student Response

WednesdayMar 7 at 5:38pm

Manage Discussion Entry

JRN410 – The Portland Patriot – Discussion 2 [Week 3]

Troy Neal

Everyone who lives in an area of the United States that is susceptible to changing weather knows that when severe weather hits everything and everyone slows down. The Portland Patriot took exception to the fact that the roads in the city of Portland weren’t being treated with the priority that they should have been. “How many members of the road crews sat on their duffs, in cafes, drinking coffee and eating donuts, while their plows were parked for long periods on the streets outside, while the rest of us struggled to go on with life? Their actions were criminal, causing untold harm to hundreds of people.” Although in the article the Patriot alluded to the workers being compared to criminals that statement in of itself blurs the line of defamation because the statement could be considered a matter of opinion. Therefore, I believe that the courts would rule in favor of the Portland Patriot.

The basis for the ruling would come on the fact that the plaintiffs came together to form a large group and, “if the group is very big it is improbable that a suit will stand.” (Pember & Calvert, 2013) Being a large group is only part of the reasoning, as explained before if plaintiffs claimed defamation, then I believe the courts would rule in favor of the Patriot due to protection of opinion. The plaintiffs could show proof of schedule for their 16 hour work days and their subsequent breaks which could help prove why some of them were sitting down in a café while eating and drinking.

One aspect I have been taught since I was young and proven over and over again is a widely known statement of fact, “innocent until proven guilty,” this fact would come into play in my eyes with this case. Even though the plaintiffs have circumstantial evidence at best they need to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the defendant acted in malice, and with the evidence given I believe they would fall short of that burden.

References

Pember, D. R. & Calvert, C. (2013). Mass media law (18th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.