MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
|
|
On bloggers and whether every political life is an open book by JGalloway
By EmmaZahn on Sat, 05/05/2012 - 2:26pm |
since mid-April, Andre Walker has been dripping out the public records of 30-year-old Richey’s private life, posting them on his blog, Georgia Politics Unfiltered. They include a series of arrests over several years, the results of a paternity test, a child-support garnishment, the works. In Walker’s eyes, the invasion has been justified because Richey is now political director of the state Democratic party.
Walker is a former state Democratic staffer turned Republican.
Last week, Richey filed a libel and defamation suit in Fulton County Superior Court — not just against Walker, but against Melanie Goux, who operates the oldest Democratic-oriented blog in the state. Blog for Democracy, which averages perhaps 1,000 readers a day, had picked up portions of Walker’s reporting.
Something like a Democratic official suing the state’s Democratic newspaper.
[...]
In addition to being a Democratic staffer, Richey is a talk-radio host. His libel suit could turn on whether he’s considered a public figure — which would raise the bar on his request for damages.
But even if it never receives a hearing, Richey’s suit could still succeed, in at least one sense.
Political blogs are rarely money-making operations. After he lost his Republican race for governor in 2010, Ray McBerry sued a pair of southwest Georgia political bloggers for reporting on his relationship — while a Henry County teacher — with a 16-year-old girl. McBerry also sued the girl’s mother, who referred to him as a “child molester” on her Facebook page.
A judge recently dismissed the case against the mother. The suit against the two bloggers is still pending. But the bloggers have already abandoned their website — and any desire for provoking discussion in the future.
URL:
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/05/05/on-bloggers-and-whether-every-political-life-is-an-open-book/?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider_jim_galloway
- 261 reads