Conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart has received a lot of flak (rightly or wrongly) for posting and promoting a misleading video clip of ousted U.S.D.A. official Shirley Sherrod, but he may have opened himself up to more than just criticism. Sherrod says Breitbart was carelessly "willing to destroy" her, and she is considering suing him for defamation. Would she have a case? (Watch Sherrod say she's considering legal action)
Sherrod doesn't have a slam-dunk case: Sherrod can file suit against Breitbart, and "the most obvious claims would be false light and defamation," says law professor Jonathan Turley in his blog. But the tricky part would be to prove that Breitbart knew he was purposefully misrepresenting her speech, or that defaming her was the point of the clip.
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