Friday, December 9, 2011

So, Sue Me!

"In a case that’s sending a frightening message to the blogger community, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a blogger must pay $2.5 million to an investment firm she wrote about — because she isn’t a real journalist."


A recent news item began with these words.

Yikes! I'm no journalist, so maybe I'll have to ease up a little when engaging in "econometrics bashing".

So:
  • Teachers of "cookbook econometrics" courses will be safe.
  • I'll stop griping about microeconometricians who ignore heteroskedasticity issues.
  • I promise not to get personal when I see these same people "re-inventing the wheel" without realising it.
  • I'll try really hard not to blog unkindly about engineers.
  • I'll stop complaining about applied econometricians who stopped reading the literature when they graduated.
  • No more snide comments about people who think the "M" word is important.
  • I'll definitely stop blogging about students who don't know how many weeks there are in a year!
So much for having fun!


p.s.: Engineer's saying: "If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features."   (Whoops!)

© 2011, David E. Giles

3 comments:

  1. if this can happen in the US, it can happen anywhere in the world!

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/business/media/when-truth-survives-free-speech.html?_r=2&ref=business

    Turns out defendant wasn't fined because she isn't a real journalist, but because what she published constituted defamation. Even "real" journalists don't have a 1st Amendment get-out-of-jail-free card for defamation, especially when the person defamed is a private person (i.e., not a politician). The judge's conclusion regarding the defendant's journalistic status appears to be dictum.

    So I think you are safe for now, Professor!

    ReplyDelete

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