Cheerleader-teacher pushes lawsuit for online post
A Kentucky High School teacher and Bengals cheerleader is suing the operator of a gossip site for defamation caused by nasty and false public comments about her on the website. Lawyer for the web site owner defends, saying that it is not responsible for the comments made by other people.
Although this was a particularly nasty set of circumstances, I just wonder how far the application would go if the website operator is held liable. After all, I look at the web sites of Louisville news outlets, and I find that the public comments following the news items are routinely uninformed, often mean-spirited, and injurious to the subjects of the news items. Would the CJ or any of the news stations around here be held to the same legal obligations as trashy gossip websites? I'm specifically thinking about "The Rant" on WHAS 11. That is a feature that encourages cranky comments from the public on local news stories. Since WHAS is encouraging this type of comment, will it be more responsible for the things that are said?
Louisville Lawyer John M. Lally www.lallylaw.com
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