the El Paso issue rumbles on…
The El Paso Times today stated that the threat of legal action was in fact an April Fools joke, and the Sunday Times had been the fools. Of course, given that El Paso has indeed made extremely serious claims against Cathy Maguire and her family which have the potential to do great damage, it is my opinion that The Sunday Times article on blog defamation may not have been accurate, but it’s probably just premature. The fact that the “April Fool” joke was carried out two days before April Fools Day only makes El Paso look like an immature attention seeker and makes you wonder if they understand the concept of an April Fool prank.
Damien Mulley reckons that the rule of “no publicity is bad publicity” applies in this case. I agree with Damien that blogging will not be damaged by this incident, but it is still the first seriously negative outcome of a growing Irish blogging scene and one that will either be a sign of things to come or a point of education for those writing blogs.
Defamation is a real and present threat in Ireland, be the publication online or otherwise. Bloggers should awaken from any possible pre-conception they may have that blogging, as an amateur hobby does not come under the same rules as the professional media (Back Seat Driver has a good piece on the mirage of anonymity). The one damaging thing that could come from this case is if El Paso is allowed to get away with the defamation it has made. If a blog is allowed to make such accusations and avoid any punishment, opponents of blogging will use it as a stick to beat the rest of us with. On the other side of the coin, as Damien argues, this incident is a chance for bloggers to establish their freedoms and boundaries rather than have them forced upon us by exterior forces.
Irish blogging, like everything else will soon make its heirarchy apparent. By that I mean that the cream will rise to the top, both in terms of quality and integrity. Blogs that are based on childish slagging matches are not likely to endear readers for very long and any publicity El Paso has recieved from its prank will be short-lived. Damien points towards the idea of creating a document to educate those hurt by defamation online; something that would help them get such comments removed or dealt with in some way. I hope that in years to come Irish bloggers will be able to create a system of accountability on a voluntary level, one that would deal with the issue before the courts got involved. At the same time, the threat of libel faces us all, regardless of the comments we make. Like Bernard, many bloggers could not afford to defend themselves in court and in the case of legal threats would be more inclined to comply rather than stand up for their rights and risk much more. Could we see, some time in the future, a body of bloggers willing to donate towards such a cause in the name of freedom of the media? I believe so.
Update: Fergal at Tuppenceworth.ie gives his opinion on the whole debacle, including some comments on my own stance. He raises some good points about the current legal status (the dodgy cease and desist for example, although it’s worth staying sceptical about the wording until an actual copy is put forward) and about the question of who was defamed (the last comments on Mrs. Maguire is arguably libel, however previous comments which are unavailable seem to be the source of contention).
bernard
April 2nd, 2006 at 10:55 am
“Could we see, some time in the future, a body of bloggers willing to donate towards such a cause in the name of freedom of the media? I believe so.”
—Yes definately. its called Digital Rights Ireland. They already have a information leaflet on defamation.
it was being released at the time that I was being served, so it was no help to me, but it is all true, and very very useful.
http://www.digitalrights.ie/bureau/index.php/Libel_Pamphlet_Text_Version
El Paso were clearly wrong here, and I hope they realise it. I hope they get out of this one with some self-respect.
bernard.
Administrator
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:05 am
I know of DRI, but I’m saying the possibility of a type of voluntary press council for blogs, out of interest, in the event of a similar case to yours occouring again would DRI try and generate the capital to see a case through? Assuming there was a solid case to defend, that is.
bernard
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 am
Ah, misread your post. Didn’t mean to sound quick there.
I don’t forsee the NUJ creating or acknowleding a voluntary press council, not after they said publically they didn’t want or see citizen journalism.
Would the DRI try to generate capital? I would think they would definately assist in an unofficial capacity. They did give me some advice at the time, but as they were literally forming, I could not ask for much.
I did however have other avenues to look at.
Capital is an important factor here. if you want to fight a libel case at the moment in ireland, as a safety, you need alot of money.
this is unfair.
bernard.
Administrator
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:37 am
The NUJ wouldn’t be bothered, I’d say it would be up to bloggers and bloggers alone.
It could work as a first port of call in cases like this, where the council could advise those who feel defamed and recommend actions to be taken by both blogger and the defamed; obviously there’d be no issue of punishment, it could be based on the concept of mediation to avoid litigation.
The issue of capital is indeed an unfair one, I’m sure bloggers would help each other out in a serious case, make donations etc. but even that would probably fall short of the money needed. It would be superb but unrealistic to see a trust fund being created for these cases, to be used in instances where bully tactics were employed in an attempt to hide the truth.
Damien Mulley
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:01 pm
I kind of suggested such an idea in my last post but I think the ground is still shifting about at the moment and there are only 1000 of us now to create a bloggers council. NUJ, heh, eh no.
Saying that, there’s no harm in putting some kind of voluntary code together. I’m sure people will crib that it is a document containing common sense. You wouldn’t believe how uncommon common sense can be though. Best practice is what they all it in business speak.
Bernie Goldbach
April 2nd, 2006 at 1:33 pm
I’ve always viewed the blogs I read on my mobile phone to be the ones with a track record of ethical publishing. I have to pay to read what comes onto my mobile phone so I try to avoid noise. In that kind of way, my mobile blogroll is a testimony to Irish blogs that follow a high signal to low noise ratio. I’ve discovered that if someone blogs that way, they seem to follow some kind of code of behaviour. In the old days, you could harvest blogrolls of those who came before. Those kinds of link lists are falling by the wayside nowadays. If you had a blogger’s code of ethics with subscribers listed as OPML, you would also have a sweet signal-to-noise reading list. For what it’s worth.
Antoin O Lachtnain
April 2nd, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Surely the point of a bloggers’ group would be to allow bloggers to have a seat on the statutory press council? I think that would be worth doing.
Antoin O Lachtnain
April 2nd, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Who cares what the NUJ says? The NUJ is an organization for representing the hired help in newsrooms. It doesn’t represent or even purport to represent the media in Ireland at all. The NUJ is a fine organization in many ways, but what they think about bloggers is of no relevance to anything.
Administrator
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:14 am
Just thought I’d point out that I made a comment on the El Paso Blog congratulating them on the fact that they’ve just drawn national (and even international) attention to the libel they’ve committed on the site by pulling their “prank”… odly, even though other comments post have been critical of the trick my comment has yet to be authorised by “The Editor”.
bernard
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:26 am
I have been speaking to people who have tried to make a comment on the site.
They have not been the usual “way to go” comments, and surprise surprise they are not published.
The only thing they have done, is affirm that nothing can be believed on that site.
I guess you could call them the Weekly Sport of Irish blogs…unfortunately without the sexy girlies
b
dealga
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
There’s a load more comments on there now, and they always seem to post comments slagging them off. If comments are awaiting moderation perhaps you could give them a few hours?
That blog has readership levels bested by very few other Irish blogs and had them before all this. You mightn’t like their style but people in that area like to read that stuff
Administrator
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:38 am
Well, I posted my comment yesterday evening, others seem to have been posted since then so I don’t think it’s a matter of a backlog… I could be wrong though.
As for the blog itself, readership levels are one thing but integrity is another. Of course this blog is entitled to post what it likes, it just better be prepared to deal with the consequences and the same freedom allows myself and others to criticise their actions.
Tuppenceworth.ie blog
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Viva El Paso!
Is it just me or is everyone getting just a little bit overheated about the EL Paso affair? I note a certain self-righteousness about some of the posts, not to mention a rush to judgement. A few details seem to have been lost amid the kerfuffle:
1. …
Tuppenceworth.ie blog » Viva El Paso!
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:41 pm
[...] I’ve said it about bloggers before, and no doubt I’ll say it again: “Get over yourselves”. El Paso is more about Dundalk than it is about blogging, which may be why certain sophisticates find it embarrassing. Runningwithbulls has understandable reasons for not finding the joke all that funny, but I note, for example, that Adam Maguire, with his talk of “quality and integrity” has clambered onto an inappropriately high horse. Similarly, the usually sensible Maman Poulet, like a village busybody lamenting a local n’er-do-well asks ‘Was anyone surprised it was them who got themselves into this mess?’. Further, she has suggested that El Paso is irresponsible and “has it’s own agenda”. Now doesn’t this imply that they should instead adhere to some other agenda? Perhaps one deemed appropriate by the “blogging community”? This to me is indicative of a snooty, “Irish Blog Establishment” attitude. Only a few weeks after the first ever Blog Awards and we already have elder statesmen turning up their noses at provincial oiks. Forgive me if I’m not impressed. If El Paso defames someone, the victims have a remedy in libel. Let them seek such remedy if they wish, but don’t everyone else come the scold, bleating “you’re only ruining it for everyone else”. El Paso» [...]
Bernie Goldbach
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:08 pm
If the mainstream blogging community was snooty, it would never admit to reading–and then beatifying–Twenty Major. So if those same mainstream readers say El Paso is in a corner, that probably means a whole lot of off-line direct discussion among those in the Irish blogging community. Funnily enough, the El Paso guys don’t seem to be part of any conversation except among themselves.
bernard
April 4th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Riddle me this then:
Why were some comments removed?
I don’t think just for the fun of it.