ALERT Trump Vows to Use Libel Laws to Take on Media as President

[pinkelsteinsmom]

Trump Vows to Use Libel Laws to Take on Media as President

Friday at a rally in Fort Worth, TX, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump explained how he was going to take on the “dishonest media” if elected president.

Trump vowed to use libel laws and sue them “like you never got sued before.”

Trump said, “I tell you what, I think the media is among the most dishonest groups of people I’ve ever met. The New York Times, which is is losing a fortune, which is not going to be around much longer, although someone will probably buy it, I think it’s the worst media I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

The worst. They have the worst agenda. You would not believe. And they’re totally incompetent. I have respect for Jeff Bezos. He bought The Washington Post to have political influence — we have a different country than we used to have.

We have a different –he owns Amazon. He wants political influence so that Amazon will benefit from it. That’s not right. and believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems. They’re going to have such problems.”

“And one of the things I’m going to do, and this is only going to make it tougher for me — and I’ve never said this before, but one of the things I’m going to do if I win, and I hope I do, and we’re certainly getting there, I’m going to open up the libel laws so when they write horrible and negative and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” he continued.

“We’re going to open up those libel laws, so that when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.

You see? With me they’re not protected, because I’m not like other people, but I’m not taking money. I’m not taking their money. So we can put up those libel laws and we’ll have people sue you like you never got sued before.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016...use-libel-laws-to-take-on-media-as-president/

 

[Millwright]

Taking out the FCC sweetheart deals for broadcast media and cable companies will change things quickly.

Anybody that has considered starting a new outlet, especially one that opposes the party line gets shot down immediately.

 

[Buick Electra]

LOL!!

THIS IS TRUMP......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfHAiIq-Yeo

 

[pinkelsteinsmom]

preserving the 501c3 with political speech is also YUGE!

 

[Buick Electra]

btt

 

[packyderms_wife]

Taking out the FCC sweetheart deals for broadcast media and cable companies will change things quickly.

Anybody that has considered starting a new outlet, especially one that opposes the party line gets shot down immediately.

I didn't know about the sweetheart deals and I doubt Trump does either. Someone should email his team and let them know about this.

 

[bad_karma00]

I don't see anything wrong with that, especially since journalists have abandoned their role as 'watchdogs' and instead become 'lapdogs' for special interests.

Bad

 

[FarmerJohn]

The UK has libel laws of the kind the Donald Trump wants.

Does Trump not realize that in order to change the libel laws of the US in the way that he wants we'd have dump the "free speech" clause of the 1st Amendment?

They don't have freedom of speech in Great Britain. There, you can be sued for what you've written, regardless of your motives.

 

[bad_karma00]

The UK has libel laws of the kind the Donald Trump wants.

Does Trump not realize that in order to change the libel laws of the US in the way that he wants we'd have dump the "free speech" clause of the 1st Amendment?

They don't have freedom of speech in Great Britain. There, you can be sued for what you've written, regardless of your motives.

If you can prove what you say then there's no problem. Freedom of speech doesn't mean, or at least it isn't supposed to mean, that you can just say or write whatever the hell you want about someone, knowing it's false, but get away with slandering their reputation or business by crying 'free speech!'.

When someone who owns a paper or other media can use that platform to spread lies with impunity, then there is an obvious problem with whatever system allows that to happen. Period.

If you can prove it, you shouldn't say it. Of course, Cruz and Rubio aren't bothering with it either, so I guess they lead by example.


Bad

 

[bad_karma00]

If you can prove it, you shouldn't say it. Of course, Cruz and Rubio aren't bothering with it either, so I guess they lead by example.

That should have been "If you CAN'T prove it, you shouldn't say it."

My Bad

 

[FarmerJohn]

Trump is proposing that an "actual malice' standard be abandoned.

Trump first made reference to his plans on libel laws late last week, at a rally in Texas, calling out in particular the New York Times and the Washington Post. "We're going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected," he said.

Currently, in order to win a libel suit against a media organization, a public figure (including elected officials and politicians) must prove that the reportedly false information was published with "actual malice," meaning the information was published with the knowledge that it was false or with "reckless disregard" for the truth. In other words, there's a high bar for public figures -- as opposed to private citizens -- to win a libel suit.

"And you know what's going to happen? You're going to see a much more honest press and you're going to see a press, frankly, that you're going to respect a lot more and you'll read," Trump said Monday in Virginia. People don't read the press anymore, and I don't either."

He saved particular criticism for the political press corps, many of whom he said are "absolute sleaze."

"The political press is the worst, the worst of all. Fifty percent of them are absolute sleaze. Okay? Absolute sleaze. Twenty-five percent are okay, don't care, do their job....You have 10 percent that are outstanding."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-donald-trump-wants-to-change-libel-laws/