A way of not sucking your own

The Supreme Court put out another candle today with their decision to not take the appeal in Troy Publishing vs. Norton: Justices Refuse to Shield Reports of False Charges. Maybe I’m giving this decision too much significance but if that was so then I don’t think “[l]awyers for more than two dozen of the nation’s largest press organizations” would have been spending time on the case. The simple fact that a politician tossed out the kind of nasty accusations on which this case centers is, in my book, by definition newsworthy; for a court to rule that the media have no absolute right to report this is dazzling.

And not in a good way. Voters have a tough enough time clawing through the oil slick of spin without courts limiting reporting in favor of the reputation of politicians. The politicians can seek a more reasonable remedy against the original speaker and the papers are hardly reprinting the accusations as delivered truth.

Repeat after me: judges are not all modern day clones of Solomon. They are as human as you and me, even with the fancy black robes and big wooden gavels. Most importantly: judges are appointed by politicians and many of them were politicians, or heavily involved in politics, before ascending to the bench.

Did I throw you off by using ascending? Seems like the American public does think in those terms. Love or hate the decisions, the common view seems to be they are handed down from on high. Consider the emotion level of reactions to the rulings over the last few months regarding Terry Schiavo.

Dan Gillmor: A Dying Craft, or a Dying Business?

Full circle: many outlandish statements have been made about the judges who decided against that poor woman’s parents. Death threats but also some that are surely slanderous, some made by politicians that are purposely exaggerated, intended to inflame the political base.

Last week, executives at the New York Times Company and Knight-Ridder would have laughed me out of the office for suggesting they think twice about publishing those comments. Tomorrow those offices are going to be full of men and women figuring out whether and when to risk the wrath and financial penalty of a lawsuit.