What A Novel Concept
I am not in favor of the UK libel laws in general, as I think they tilt too far in favor of the plaintiff, but this would certainly alter the op-ed pages in the US.
The CBC notes that the U.K. press watchdog cracks down on blogger
Britain’s Press Complaints Commission has censured a blogger who made claims that most of the violent crime in London is committed by young African-Caribbean men.
It is the first time the press watchdog, which oversees editorial content of newspaper and magazines, has upheld a complaint against a blog.
The Press Complaints Commission requires editorials that make statements of “fact” to back up the claim or print a retraction. This would save the print media a lot of money on columnists as they would have a day of retractions for every day of columns. It apparently doesn’t affect opinion, only claims of fact.
Fact-checking – a whole new concept for the print media.
Oh, the “blogger” was working for a newspaper, and posting on the newspaper’s site.
