Everyone has heard about the extramarital affair between ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips and his 22-year old production assistant that caused him to get fired this weekend and his wife filing for a divorce.
Even after Phillips termination the drama continued with popular sports blog Deadspin and ESPN online. Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio was mad about being “misinformed” about the Phillips situation and decided to get back at ESPN by airing out the dirty laundry of ESPN employees.
According to Time Magazine, “Daulerio insists that he trusts his sources and claims that he really was trying to make a larger point about ESPN’s culture — employees allegedly complain that while on-air personalities get reprimanded for inappropriate relationships, business executives enjoy more leeway.”
This is just one example of how the web is changing journalistic standards. Anyone can publish a rumor with a click of their mouse. Basically the only way to go after an online media outlet through a defamation claim. If a public figure can prove “that an individual person or media outlet published something about him with so-called actual malice — knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth. This standard offers considerable protection for media outlets; actual malice is difficult to prove.”
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