As a defendant in a court of law, even a network such as MSNBC enjoys the presumption of innocence.
In the court of public opinion, however, the entire establishment media stands convicted of repeated and malicious lying. And that sort of habitual dishonesty tends to have consequences.
According to Fox News, a jury trial for a $30 million defamation lawsuit against MSNBC will begin on April 22.
Dr. Mahendra Amin, an obstetrician-gynecologist who treated detained women at the Irwin County Detention Center in southern Georgia, has alleged that MSNBC on-air personalities defamed him in September 2020 by reporting an uncorroborated whistleblower complaint that accused him of performing unnecessary hysterectomies on migrant women.
In fact, multiple on-air reports on Sept. 15, 2020, referred to Amin as the “uterus collector.”
MSNBC propagandists — er, personalities — named in the lawsuit included Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, and Chris Hayes.
Amin’s lawsuit alleged that MSNBC “falsely portrayed” him as “an abusive, unethical, and dishonest physician who treated and operated on immigrant women in an abusive fashion, without consent, and motivated by profit instead of quality healthcare.”
Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia noted last year that “undisputed evidence has established” the fact that “there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility,” that “Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees from the ICDC,” and that the doctor is not a “uterus collector.” Thus, the judge determined that a jury could find malice in this case.
Moreover, an unreliable whistleblower could not shield the network from potential liability.
Do you watch any mainstream news?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 100% (10 Votes)
“Viewed in their entirety, the September 15, 2020 episodes of ‘Deadline: White House,’ ‘All In With Chris Hayes,’ and ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ accuse Plaintiff of performing mass hysterectomies on detainee women. It does not matter that NBC did not make these accusations directly, but only republished the whistleblower letter’s allegations,” Judge Wood ruled.
In law, defamation requires proof that the negligent publication or communication of a false statement caused the plaintiff harm.
Amin, therefore, must prove negligence, at minimum, as well as harm to his reputation.
The case for negligence, if not malice, depends in part on the report’s timing.
As Fox News noted, the false reports occurred “weeks before the 2020 presidential election and at the height of the COVID pandemic, when much of MSNBC’s programming was hostile to President [Donald] Trump.
Moreover, NBC standards deputy Christopher Scholl expressed hesitation about publishing the story, per the New York Post.
“She [the whistleblower] has no direct knowledge of what she’s claiming, is unable to name the doctor involved (if I understood correctly), and we are unable to verify any of it or determine whether there really is a story here,” Scholl wrote in an email at the time, according to court documents. “Essentially, it boils down to a single source — with an agenda — telling us things we have no basis to believe are true.”
In short, an anti-Trump network published an unverified report unfavorable to the Trump administration on the eve of the 2020 presidential election. And it did this despite objections from its own standards deputy.
A jury, of course, will settle the disputed points, but that much remains undisputed.
The trial will begin April 22 in Waycross, Georgia, Fox News reported.
At that time, defense lawyers will hope for more success than CNN had in a recent defamation case.
On Friday, a jury in Panama City, Florida, ordered CNN to pay $5 million in damages to security consultant Zachary Young, who sued the network for mischaracterizing him as an “illegal profiteer” who exploited “desperate Afghans” eager to escape the country in the wake of President Joe Biden’s catastrophic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
To put it mildly, the judge in that case did not look favorably upon CNN lead attorney David Axelrod.
“Right now your credibility with me, Mr. Axelrod, is about none. If you understand that?” Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William Henry said two days before the verdict.
Yikes.
Likewise, in December, Disney CEO Bob Iger forced ABC News, property of Disney Entertainment, to reach a $15 million settlement with Trump, who had sued the network for alleged defamatory comments made on-air by George Stephanopolous, host of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous.”
In short, one detects a pattern of false statements coming from anti-Trump networks.
Again, a jury will decide the fate of Amin’s defamation case against MSNBC. But Americans do not need a court case to render their verdict on the untrustworthy, corrupt, and dying establishment media.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
