Area paper battles blogger
As an outspoken state legislator, gubernatorial candidate and now blogger, Cal Skinner Jr. is accustomed to dealing with, and sometimes taking on, the press.
Now, however, one local newspaper is taking him on.
The B.F. Shaw Printing Co., the parent company of the McHenry County-based Northwest Herald, is suing Skinner for at least $50,000 in damages, claiming the political commentator damaged the newspaper’s reputation with a recent posting on his mchenrycountyblog.com. (Daily Herald - also see Northwest Herald and Capitol Fax Blog)
The B.F. Shaw Printing Company also owns the Kane County Chronicle.
As Rich Miller notes, it’s ironic that a newspaper should be filing suit, because typically they are the ones who are sued by people alleging libel, and it is bad karma.
It’s just bizarre. As Cal Skinner said, why didn’t they just call him to make a correction or even leave a comment on his blog? The issue at the heart of the dispute is definitely one of those things where there’s bound to be confusion.
Those documents indicate that in 1985 the county board approved a resolution supporting the issuance of $2.6 million in tax-exempt bonds to fund the construction of the newspaper’s Crystal Lake headquarters.
County officials, however, disagree. Deputy County Administrator John Labaj said the newspaper was allowed to take advantage of the county’s status to obtain financing at about 80 percent of what was the prime interest rate at the time. (Daily Herald)
A government authority issues bonds on behalf of a private company. What would you assume from that? Apparently if you make the wrong assumption on a blog, you will get sued instead of being corrected.
If Shaw’s lawsuit prevails, it will, as they say, have a chilling effect on free speech, particularly among bloggers.
Mr. Skinner has countersued and hopefully the case will be settled without any liability on Mr. Skinner’s part. If you are a subscriber to the Kane County Chronicle, please consider contacting them and urging them to drop this frivolous lawsuit (and yes, threaten to cancel your subscription!).
Their phone number is: (630) 232-9222
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Shaw Printing’s suit is a bit ironic inasmuch as they were on the losing end of a $7 million verdict for libeling (via columnist Bill Page in the Kane County Chronicle) Illinois Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas. The verdict did get reduced by a few million. But maybe - given the current dreadful economic state of newspaper publishing - Shaw has concluded from the Thomas verdict that it’s easier to make money attacking the publishing of information than it is to make money publishing information.
That’s a great point, rm. I remember that was national news when it happened. It was on Drudge Report.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0506&GA=095