Hi,

Recently, a medium-sized newspaper company published a story about my family's non-profit organization. This article was front page (2pages) and accused my family of really bad things. They published this article because currently there is a huge quarrel between two groups of this organization. The one group escalated this by publishing this article; however, the newspaper did not attempt to get both sides of the story but rather published one side which ripped on the organization and my family, causing most members to leave.

We wrote a formal letter stating that they need to publish a retraction the same size as this one. If they do not, what can we do in regards to this? I really feel it is very biased and basically ruined our families reputation among our community.

Thanks,

If they printed anything that caused damage that can be proven to not be true, you can sue them for liable.

Depending on your case, a good attorney might be very interested if he thinks he can win.

Most will give you an initial consultation for free just to see if you have a case or not.

If they printed things that are not TRUE, you can sue them for damages if they do not give proper notice of the false info. And if the other side provided the false info they can be sued also.

Their only defense is to prove what they wrote was true, or that they had no reason to doubt the info being true, If for example a personn who should know and be aware, gave them the info,

Well the article was front page from a newspaper. They show a picture with eyes blurred out but can clearly distinguish the picture. And it damaged our reputation as most of the members left and there are many third party friends that can clearly identify us (the plantiff) as the subject of the defamatory remark.
The only hard part is to prove the article as true or not true as there really is no evidence and it is based purely on people's word which is divided among two groups. Half the group is on our side and the other half is against us; however, what I want to know is that if the newspaper can publish this article without getting both sides.
I understand the fact that 1st amendment (freedom of speech) plays a big part in this; but if a newspaper is publishing an article that is front page, read by many people, and is clearly defaming one group, do we not have the right to have our side published as well? I honestly feel that the media did not attempt to get our side because they wanted to get publicity and would get more attention on the one side of the story instead of both sides.

I have been reading up on the state law on defamation of a private figure and see this:

"Damages issues will ordinarily arise in two basic contexts: (1) when the speech is of public concern and the plaintiff is a public official, public figure, or a private person as these terms are defined in the case law; and (2) when the speech is of exclusively private concern and the plaintiff is a private figure." Civil Law Article 8.46

The problem was essentially an internal conflict among the group and what was written was of private concern. The group who published this article went to the newspaper in the first place as an act of malice because they wanted us to step down but when we refuse to, they published this article to destroy our side's creditbility.

What do you guys think? I am not a lawyer, I am just trying to understand what we can do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jokgga

well the article was front page from a newspaper. They show a picture with eyes blurred out but can clearly distinguish the picture. And it damaged our reputation as most of the members left and there are many third party friends that can clearly identify us (the plantiff) as the subject of the defamatory remark.
The only hard part is to prove the article as true or not true as there really is no evidence and it is based purely on people's word which is divided among two groups. Half the group is on our side and the other half is against us; however, what I want to know is that if the newspaper can publish this article without getting both sides.
I understand the fact that 1st amendment (freedom of speech) plays a big part in this; but if a newspaper is publishing an article that is front page, read by many people, and is clearly defaming one group, do we not have the right to have our side published as well? I honestly feel that the media did not attempt to get our side because they wanted to get publicity and would get more attention on the one side of the story instead of both sides.

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Did they mention your family by name? I don't quite understand the people knew it was you part -

Again, if you were defamed, the info is not true, then you have no recourse but to retain an Attorney and sue.

And, no, you don't have a "right" to have your side published -

I don't understand why, if accusations were made, you can't prove the story is untrue. An Attorney would have that same problem. Can't win without proof.

For whatever reason they decided to publish the story without getting your side, they can do it. Its not considered good journalism, but its not illegal. However, if you can prove there were false statements made, you can sue. But if it's a he said/she said situation, then you will have a hard time.

However, there is something called the equal time doctrine. While not law, its common practice and if they won't print a retraction (and without proof they won't), you can demand that they print your answer to the charges. They can do this in an article, as a letter to the editors or a guest editorial.

It doesn't sound like you have strong enough case to sue.

They are not required to present both sides to any story.

If you are concerned about your side getting out, you could purchase space in the same paper, and publish your side of things.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jokgga

I have been reading up on the state law on defamation of a private figure

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Hello j:

The law you're quoting has to do with WHO can sue for damages, not what they need to prove.

The law is very simple on the matter. The only counter to a lie, is the truth.

excon

Hi,

The reason it is hard for us to prove this untrue is because we do not have official statements. Basically, this was a real petty fight that escalated. Previously, there were two groups that were fighting over control of the organization that my family created. And when the one group was singled out, they held a private meeting amongst each other and decided to publish this article to destroy our credibility and bascially intending to harm our reputation. The accusation was that we (who created the group) were using donations for personal use. The amount they are accusing us of is $500 and it is because the checks were made out to my name and not the group. The reason why it was made out to my name was because this was a newly formed group (less than 1 year old) and we had not set up a account in the org name at that time. The total donation we had received so far was less than $2,000 and because we had not set up an account, I just put the all the cash in a lockbox. I kept all records of every donation we received and every month wrote a written statement to all the members. The $500 is documented in the statement, which every member received. The difficult part is that is the only sort of evidence we have since I never created a bank statement.
I am not worried about the accusation but rather what I can do in regards to legal action toward the newspaper and the group.
The group acted on a private matter and made it public. They did not even bother to confront us beforehand but rather found something that they thought they had on us and used the newspaper to destroy our reputation and force us to leave (we were threatened over the phone that they would do more if we didn't leave the group, which we have recorded).
The newspaper because of there blatant disregard for the validity of the statement. Previously I thought the newspaper did not contact us for our side; however the newspaper had actually called my family and left out our response which was that we have a written statement that is given out every month, showing the $500 donation. And also because they singled one person (who created the group) and even put the full name and a picture with the eyes blurred out.

This situation has caused almost all the members not involved to leave the group. It also gave us a bad name on an accusation that had no validity whatsoever.

Well if the accusation centered around a donation that you have a paper trail for, then you have proof.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jokgga

Hi,

Recently, a medium-sized newspaper company published a story about my family's non-profit organization. This article was front page (2pages) and accused my family of really bad things. They published this article because currently there is a huge quarrel between two groups of this organization. The one group escalated this by publishing this article; however, the newspaper did not attempt to get both sides of the story but rather published one side which ripped on the organization and my family, causing most members to leave.

We wrote a formal letter stating that they need to publish a retraction the same size as this one. If they do not, what can we do in regards to this? I really feel it is very biased and basically ruined our families reputation among our community.

Thanks,

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Again, the newspaper has no duty to you - unless the printed info they KNEW to be false, I don't see that you have an action against them. They have no obligation to interview both sides of an issue. They are allowed to pick one. First example that comes to my mind is political elections - they pick and endorse a candidate. Maybe editorials give false or misleading info. They have no duty to print anything about the other candidate. Newspapers are most definitely not-for-profit organizations and they print what sells papers.

I know you've rehashed the whole problem but it's going to come down to proof - what proof do you have that the allegations against you/your organization/your family are not true?

No Court is going to sift through the he said/she said stuff - they are going to want proof - as is any Attorney but, again, I don't know who you plan to sue and on what grounds.

Just wondering, these false statements that were made, did someone in your family go on record and talk to a reporter prior to the article running and say there weren't true? Cause if they weren't printing your side of the story and got the facts from someone else, they are just reporting what they were told. I would try to get them to do a story on your side. It is usually a must to print both sides of the story to not show bias, but if your family didn't want to be involved, and it is a hot issue, the news needs to be out.