Locally, the Fremgen v. Full of Balogna affair provided an opportunity to learn about legal standards for libel and defamation.Today, wingnut apologist John Fund of the Wall Street Journal launched into a tirade against University of Michigan History Professor Juan Cole, whose award-winning Informed Comment Blog is one of the most popular dealing with mideast issues. In his response, Cole says the Fund piece libels him and is "an apparent attempt to interfere with my professional life." (Cole may soon receive an offer of a professorship at Yale).
Some scholars have suggested that in situations like this, the Wall St. Journal should by law have to provide Cole with the space to reply to the attacks on his reputation that appear in their pages. In Miami Herald v. Tornillo (1974), the Supreme Court rejected a mandatory "right of reply." If the Wall Street Journal had any decency, however, they would not have to be legally prodded to give space to Cole. Rather, they would invite him to respond. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
1 comment:
I do have one question: does Yale wish to hire a Middle East scholar who published allegations that 9/11 was partially a response to the ‘massacre’ at Jenin, a dubious event that took place 7 months AFTER the bombing of the WTC and the Pentagon? One who, when confronted with this obviously ridiculous (and physically impossible) notion, attempted to destroy the evidence rather than fess up and apologize? Yale can hire whomever they want, but this would give me pause…
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