[Imc] hiding a story

[Sandra Ahten]

It seems to me that we are more libelous if we decide which stories to hide
and which not too.  We are then giving the message that we are checking for
accuracy. If we have a truly open policy and the people who post the stories
are responsible for their own message and we don't in anyway verify
anything- then I think there is less chance that we would be held
accountable.  As I said, if, on the other hand, we check accuracy in some -
we would have to do it in all.
I propose you Unhide the story.
Sandra
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Riismandel" <p-riism at ntx1.cso.uiuc.edu>
To: "'Brian Hagy '" <bhagy at onthejob.net>; "Paul Riismandel"
<p-riism at ntx1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Cc: <imc at urbana.indymedia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 10:16 AM
Subject: RE: [Imc] hiding a story


> If it turns out that the guy who she claims killed her son didn't, then
> this is a clear case of libel-- in fact, it doesn't get much clearer than
> that.  The accused guy can sue us, and if we're in deep doodoo if we can't
> show that we know it to be true.
>
> --paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Hagy
> To: Paul Riismandel
> Cc: 'imc at urbana.indymedia.org'
> Sent: 9/18/2001 8:17 AM
> Subject: Re: [Imc] hiding a story
>
>
> i don't understand why this was hidden.  it's not advocating the killing
> of someone, merely pointing out the puny sentence the judge found
> necessary.  and it's reporting from a parent's perspective. besides, how
> much of what we have on our website is truly verifible?  in light of
> that,
> i support unhiding it, else we become censors, and hide everything we
> can't verify (which would cover a large amount of our material on the
> web).
>
> brian
>
>
> On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Paul Riismandel wrote:
>
> > I want to let people know that I hid a story on the website today.  It
> has
> > nothing to do with terrorism or threats.  I hid it because it
> contained
> > potentially libelous information that cannot be reasonably checked and
> the
> > person who left it left no name, e-mail or any other way to contact.
> >
> > You can see the text below.  If anyone has an objection I will unhide
> it,
> > though I think it best to xxx out names even so.  I think any final
> decision
> > should be made at the steering meeting this week.
> >
> > The article was called:"23 year old son killed by nc teacher"
> >
> > Here is the text (note that i removed the names since that is what
> could be
> > considered libelous and the imc list is archived on the web):
> > "My 23 yr old son xxxxx was killed in February of 2001. He was killed
> by a
> > 36 year old man, xxxxx that has a teaching certificate and is pursuing
> his
> > doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC. My son
> was
> > invited to this man's house and was unarmed. This man went to his
> closet and
> > got his 45 handgun out of the bedroom closet, unzipped the case, took
> the
> > gun and holster out of the case, took the gun out of the holster,
> ejected a
> > bullet to make sure that there was a bullet in the gun's
> chamber(loaded) and
> > killed my son with a shot to my son's chest. The bullet pierced my
> son's
> > heart and did massive internal damage. My son was not armed, did not
> try to
> > fight because the man had the gun aimed at my son's chest from about 3
> feet
> > away. My son pled for his life but was shot and killed anyway. This
> killer
> > is a teacher and pursuing a doctorate in education, he pled guilty to
> > involuntary manslaughter. Will serve time in jail on weekends for a
> couple
> > of months and is on probation for 4 years. Apparently the value of my
> son's
> > life was not very important. My son leaves behind families and friends
> that
> > are appalled at this injustice. My son's wife will have to raise their
> 2
> > small boys and their baby that was just born earlier this month. Is
> there
> > any justice at all left in America?"
> >
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> >
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