If I accuse you of being a dog fucker, how would you feel if the AP reported it on the national news feed?
Would that be reasonable of them, to put that out there, with noting to back it up?
The fact that you made the accusation would be a fact. PERIOD.
I couldn't sue the AP, nor would I want to. I would sue YOU.
And you would be fine, having it spread around the nation, that you are a dog fucker, with absolutely no reason to believe it is true?
LOL!!!!
Sure you would.
The AP are vile scum.
Sure I would. Because the AP didn't make the accusation ------------ YOU did. That's why you'd get sued. All the AP did was report the fact that you said it. There ain't nothing false about that if you did.
And in this case it's on video. You can't deny something happened when it's recorded and eyewitnessed. What the HELL is wrong with you?
What, you think you can just toss out slander and get away with it as long as nobody reports it? Is that how your planet works?
No Hunior, not on this one. Here you take responsibility for what YOU say. You don't just suppress the reporting that you said it.
1. No one is denying that the accusation took place. Please stop wasting my time.
On the contrary, Spicer's attorney already did. He referred specifically to the AP story -- which was that a man walked in and started yelling accusations --- and called for it to be 'retracted'. Which retraction would, if they did so, be a lie. Because in fact a man *DID* walk in and start yelling accusations. As they described.
So in effect he's "ordering" the AP to lie under pain of "legal action". Which in the dearth of any news about such action presumably means he "legally" ordered lunch at Popeye's.
(insert pointless mountain of carriage returns here)
2. Do you think that the media has some moral and/or professional responsibility to verify a vile rumor before spreading it around the world?
I don't think a "rumor" qualifies as news. The whole idea of journalism is that you verify independently that something DID take place.
But again that's not in play here. The action is that a man walked into a Spicer book signing and started yelling an accusation. Whelp --- he did indeed. It's on video. Period.
So, retract the story that included the exact unsupported and vile accusation, and replace it with one more like what you wrote, ie, referring to them, without repeating them.
Which is obviously what they should have done in the first place.