Miles Out?

[heyabbott]

There are some high quality co-eds on ESPNU this morning. SEC women's gymnastics.

Better hookup? SEC cheerleader or gymnast?

 

[heyabbott]

Meanwhile on ESPN2 LSU cheer leading competition

 

[Armchair_QB]

The kid who tweeted the original rumor is at @sammcgaw

Kid tweeted that he had 238 followers before he tweeted the rumor last night. Now he has 30,000.

 

[Bob Cook]

I won't believe it til LSUFreek posts a gif.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Les Miles having an affair? Based on his game management, he'd try to kiss her right as she turns her head and stick his nose in her ear.

 

[tapintoamerica]

What is Rant Sports? Is it in the Bleacher Report school of pseudo journalism? In other words, are their "writers" paid?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Sam McGaw ‏@sammcgaw
For the people claiming I will be sued, I wasn't the first person to tweet about about this rumor. Plus, Les Miles is a public figure.

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Probably not worth Les' time, but it sure would be nice if he did go for the lawsuit. At first glance this one appears to have the actual malice to at least get it into court.

 

[Batman]

Les Miles having an affair? Based on his game management, he'd try to kiss her right as she turns her head and stick his nose in her ear.

Or **** her for 20 minutes, then lose his boner and end up pissing in her vagina. Then, after she stormed out of the room, her super hot, drunken, horny roommate came home and let him have his way with her.

 

[Moderator1]

The fact that we're talking about it here - and by that I don't mean we are doing anything wrong - is indicative of the problem. Someone is going to hear about it and pass it along as fact, without bothering to look two seconds further and see it is bull****.

Drives me nuts. How many beat writers got calls from their editor today saying, "Yeah, I know. But check it out anyway?"

 

[MileHigh]

The fact that we're talking about it here - and by that I don't mean we are doing anything wrong - is indicative of the problem. Someone is going to hear about it and pass it along as fact, without bothering to look two seconds further and see it is bull****.

Drives me nuts. How many beat writers got calls from their editor today saying, "Yeah, I know. But check it out anyway?"

Egggggg-actly

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Moddy, I don't think the problem is papers or other media trying to check out rumors. We've (I still say that, even though it's wrong) always done that. It's that the rumor isn't just a telephone call anymore. It's its own growth industry with a wide audience, maybe wider than the outlet that's checking it out.

 

[93Devil]

Sam McGaw ‏@sammcgaw
For the people claiming I will be sued, I wasn't the first person to tweet about about this rumor. Plus, Les Miles is a public figure.

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Probably not worth Les' time, but it sure would be nice if he did go for the lawsuit. At first glance this one appears to have the actual malice to at least get it into court.

Has anyone tweeted anything to this kid with keywords of malice, absent, Sullivan, New York Times?

 

[Versatile]

There's no way this idiot kid could be charged with libel. Any judge would dismiss the case as petty and without backing.

Twitter's ease of publication would be used to refute actual malice. Medium considerations and ease of publication have been factored into previous rulings, if I'm remembering the law correctly. Any decent lawyer could argue that tweeting is too easy to accuse the idiot kid of reckless disregard.

 

[SalukiNC]

Please don't hire Sam Mcgaw, what a tool

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Kid tweeted that he had 238 followers before he tweeted the rumor last night. Now he has 30,000.

Which was probably his goal all along.

 

[User 4332]

There's no way this idiot kid could be charged with libel. Any judge would dismiss the case as petty and without backing.

Twitter's ease of publication would be used to refute actual malice. Medium considerations and ease of publication have been factored into previous rulings, if I'm remembering the law correctly. Any decent lawyer could argue that tweeting is too easy to accuse the idiot kid of reckless disregard.

This is an incredibly dangerous attitude and incorrect. Libel law doesn't change with the medium. Just because a publishing platform is easy to use has no bearing.

The kid's libelous post was spread far and wide and although the actual malice standard is high, his own admission that he was passing along a rumor and that he didn't check it out means that we can pretty easily get to reckless disregard for the truth. This kid could easily be sued for libel (as opposed to charged with, since most states have gotten rid of their criminal libel laws) and it would not be dismissed as "petty and without backing." The only real question would be how much damages Miles suffered.

 

[Versatile]

There's no way this idiot kid could be charged with libel. Any judge would dismiss the case as petty and without backing.

Twitter's ease of publication would be used to refute actual malice. Medium considerations and ease of publication have been factored into previous rulings, if I'm remembering the law correctly. Any decent lawyer could argue that tweeting is too easy to accuse the idiot kid of reckless disregard.

This is an incredibly dangerous attitude and incorrect. Libel law doesn't change with the medium. Just because a publishing platform is easy to use has no bearing.

The kid's libelous post was spread far and wide and although the actual malice standard is high, his own admission that he was passing along a rumor and that he didn't check it out means that we can pretty easily get to reckless disregard for the truth. This kid could easily be sued for libel (as opposed to charged with, since most states have gotten rid of their criminal libel laws) and it would not be dismissed as "petty and without backing." The only real question would be how much damages Miles suffered.

While I defer to your legal expertise on most matters, are you sure the medium isn't considered? I swear I remember a case study from school in which a plaintiff successfully argued the immediacy of some form of new media (this was a few years before Twitter, so it wasn't that) raised the stakes on actual malice. If I am wrong, then I see your point, though I still don't think there's enough to win a case.

The reason I say it's petty is because, well, it's Les Miles suing some idiot kid. It absolutely would be petty for Miles to try to make an example out of some idiot kid. I would enjoy watching it, but it would be petty.

The other issue at play is that repeating a libelous statement is itself libel. So does Matt1735 get called in? Does every message board and Twitter user who discussed the story get called in? Certainly, if you're trying to win damages, there are people of more wealth than this kid who repeated his rumor.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Kid tweeted that he had 238 followers before he tweeted the rumor last night. Now he has 30,000.

Which was probably his goal all along.

Sure would appear that way. Kid comes across as a five-alarm flaming douchebag.

 

[hondo]

The kid who tweeted the original rumor is at @sammcgaw

Kid tweeted that he had 238 followers before he tweeted the rumor last night. Now he has 30,000.

So if you've got a twitter account with 238 followers, all you need to do is make **** up and not only will you skyrocket to 30,000 followers but other media outlets will pick your slop up and run with it.
Is this a great country, or what?

 

[Versatile]

So if you've got a twitter account with 238 followers, all you need to do is make **** up and not only will you skyrocket to 30,000 followers but other media outlets will pick your slop up and run with it.
Is this a great country, or what?

What does Twitter have to do with this country? What media outlets picked up this story?