|
Network Files $10M Defamation Lawsuit Against Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
[LAWANDCRIME]  The owner of right-leaning cable news channel One America News Network (OANN) has filed a defamation lawsuit against Rachel Maddow and others claiming that the 46-year-old liberal commentator "maliciously and recklessly" smeared the network as a Russian state propaganda outlet.In a blurb obtained by Law&Crime, attorneys for OANN’s owner Herrring Networks, Inc. said they filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against Maddow, Comcast Corporation, NBC Universal and MSNBC in a Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, federal court. The lawsuit tracks a series of longstanding grievances between OANN and Comcast. According to the blurb, the complaint alleges that Comcast refused to carry the right-wing network because OANN "counters the liberal politics of its own channel, MSNBC." One week after that, OANN’s founder Charles Herring sent an open email to Comcast deriding their alleged "anti-competitive censorship." Maddow apparently responded in turn, defending her own network’s owners by blasting OANN and telling her own audience the right-wing network "really literally is paid Russian propaganda." OANN’s lawsuit asserts that Maddow‐as well as the other named corporate defendants‐knew the liberal host’s statement was false and that Maddow acted both maliciously and recklessly when she made it. This language mirrors the legal definition of defamation under California statutory and case law. The lawsuit further alleges that Maddow’s xenophobic broadside against OANN was intended to damage the conservative network’s business and reputation. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Maddow targeted the competing network for retaliation over their allegations that Comcast was acting in an anti-competitive manner. Attorney Skip Miller is a partner with Miller Barondess, LLP in Los Angeles. In comments obtained by Law&Crime, Miller reiterated the anti-factual nature of Maddow’s Russian jab at the right-wing network. "One America is wholly owned, operated and financed by the Herring family in San Diego," Miller said. "They are as American as apple pie. They are not paid by Russia and have nothing to do with the Russian government. This is a false and malicious libel, and they’re going to answer for it in a court of law." Related: One America News: 2019-08-12 ‘Fast and Furious' Report a Reminder of Deliberately Unresolved Accountability One America News: 2018-12-29 Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA): ‘Democrats Have Already Planned Impeachment' One America News: 2018-08-31 Kredo Describes ‘Long-Ignored' Story of Iranian Spy Operations in U.S. Related: Rachel Maddow: 2019-05-07 An Empire of Bullshi* Rachel Maddow: 2019-02-08 2020 Dems see danger in the Mueller probe Rachel Maddow: 2019-01-10 AOC Trashes ICE Agents Days After She Voted to Fund ICE Related: MSNBC: 2019-09-08 David Hogg: Today’s Mass Shootings Stem from America’s ‘Indigenous Mass Shootings’ and ‘White Supremacy’ MSNBC: 2019-09-07 CNN to Host LGBTQ Democratic Presidential Town Hall MSNBC: 2019-08-28 KFC to test meatless chicken at Georgia restaurant Posted by: Fred 2019-09-10 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=549926 |