Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable?

Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (Full Version)

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jlf1961 -> Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:36:12 PM)
Recently a story was posted on the web that turned out to be a hoax. The story was that a gun battle between Federal, State and local Law Enforcement agencies against a Mexican Drug gang in the town of Laredo TX. The story went viral and was reposted on the web a countless number of times. A google search using the term "Laredo Ranches taken over by Los Zetas came back with 8270 results, only one of them is a news outlet, and it quotes the diggersrealm story with no other statements. The story was reposted here last night. The story originated on diggersrealm from information relayed by Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk. The result was an overwhelming number of calls to the local Law Enforcement agencies, namely the Laredo PD and Webb County Sheriff's office, who denied the reports. A local tv station sent reporters out to the area and they returned saying nothing was going on, no law enforcement vehicles, no gun battle, nothing. The question is, should the person or persons who originated the story be held on criminal charges for the problems they caused to local law enforcement agencies with the shear volume of calls relating to the story?

Moonhead -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:39:04 PM)
Probably, but I doubt there would be any serious penalties for that. Wasting Police time isn't seen as that big a deal, legally.

jlf1961 -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:40:27 PM)
It should be if the phones are being tied up by a large volume of calls concerning a falsified story, thus making it difficult to answer calls dealing with a real emergency.

DarkSteven -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:52:33 PM)
Well, here in Colorado, we recently had the infamous balloon boy hoax, in which case the originator was charged for the police/rescue teams' time. The faker should be charged civilly for the resources expended. AFAIK, while it is a crime to report a false crime to the police, there is no provision for hoodwinking others into doing the same thing. On the other hand, what did the dumbshits who called the Laredo PD hope to accomplish? if there HAD been a pitched gunfight with a drug gang lasting several hours, the last thing the PD would have needed was to get tied to a bunch of phone calls during the crisis.

Lucylastic -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:57:51 PM)
Quite honestly..once bitten twice shy... the lies, mistakes, misspeaks, flipflopping missunderestimations and refudiations of stories coming out in the past year or so have made me go into auto research mode. lets just say the rumours have been a lot more intense than the eventual truth

domiguy -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 12:59:39 PM)
Interesting point. Sort of on par with yelling "fire" in a theater. Another analogy. You are starting to see more people being held responsible and accountable for the lost time and wages of the authorities or the Gv't agencies involved when they have perpetrated a fraud. i.e., claimed to have been kidnapped or knowingly disappeared without relaying the "safety" of their situation or as in the case of the "Balloon boy" where the parents were forced to pay $36,000 in restitutions to help compensate for the lost time and wages for those involved in the "rescue." To put out an outright lie as fact and then not to expect someone to react to the situation is probably disingenuous. We are seeing these types of events beginning to transpire at a frighteningly high pace. It is only because they are effective, in that most people are too stupid or lazy to do any type of a background check to find if there is any type of veracity to the story in question. People have begin to justify these fraudulent accounts because they feel that they point to a larger problem at hand that for whatever reason has not gained the desired attention necessary. So any sort of story regardless of the truth is acceptable as long as it falls within their political ideology. The truth takes a back seat to harming your adversaries or to forward some sort of an agenda.

jlf1961 -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 1:32:48 PM)
Domiguy, that brings us back to the question, should there be laws to deal with such false or fraudulent stories? This particular story originated with a conservative individual who lives in San Diego County California, some 1300+ miles from Laredo TX, which begs the question, if this had been real, how in the hell would he have found out about it before the main stream news outlets did? The fact that it was sensationalism at its worse, and caused two local agencies a day of unnecessary phone calls. The fact that the original website that posted the story is now maintaining that a news blackout is in effect, which is again a false statement, since most reporters that I know carry scanners and would be quick to report such breaking news. In all reality, a gun battle between members of a drug cartel and local police would be impossible to keep a lid on. Hell a local standoff between police and a wanted fugitive was on the news within minutes of the beginning of the situation, all because of a reporter with a police scanner in the local news room.

TheHeretic -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 1:38:52 PM)
Gee. I was thinking this thread was going to be about Dan Rather... No. It's a free speech issue. At the level of a balloon boy, I can certainly see sending them a bill for the costs.

realwhiteknight -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 1:46:37 PM)
Citizen journalism to the rescue! We can research our own breaking stories, thank you!

jlf1961 -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:00:28 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic Gee. I was thinking this thread was going to be about Dan Rather... No. It's a free speech issue. At the level of a balloon boy, I can certainly see sending them a bill for the costs. So, you are saying that the web publication of any story, no matter how fraudulent or false indicating something happening in real time is protected by free speech?

realwhiteknight -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:25:28 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: jlf1961 quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic Gee. I was thinking this thread was going to be about Dan Rather... No. It's a free speech issue. At the level of a balloon boy, I can certainly see sending them a bill for the costs. So, you are saying that the web publication of any story, no matter how fraudulent or false indicating something happening in real time is protected by free speech? But free speech and free press are qualitatively different are they not? And subject to different laws (libel/slander) and held to different standards?

TheHeretic -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:31:53 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: realwhiteknight But free speech and free press are qualitatively different are they not? And subject to different laws (libel/slander) and held to different standards? You beat me to it, RWK.

Moonhead -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:33:10 PM)
There is that. If these internerd sources are expecting to be treated with the same respect as the other news media, they're obliged to adhere to the same standards instead of making stuff up.

DarlingSavage -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:43:03 PM)
And this all leads us to Fox news and what about the birthers? Who made up that story? Just the other day, I was in the grocery store and saw the front page of the World Weekly News or some other rag of ill repute, spouting off "proof" that Obama was not really born here. Puh-lease! If we're going to start holding news media accountable and I do believe that we should, aren't the presence of these other erroneous news sources evidence of how well we uphold these laws? Or are these guys working under some loophole? Do they have disclaimers stating that their reports are for entertainment purposes only? Just like palm readers and fortune tellers? Food for thought.

Slavehandsome -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:45:54 PM)
Since anything could be considered 'misleading', then absolutely, Stalin's government would have imprisoned anybody for 'originating a misleading story'.

jlf1961 -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:48:50 PM)
We are not talking about misleading, but outright false stories about things that never happened. Newspapers have been sued for similar reporting, why should a website owner not be subject to the same civil and criminal standard.

Slavehandsome -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:52:44 PM)
What about the originators of a story that a U.S. ship had been attacked in the Gulf Of Tonkin? A lot of phone calls were made, and in fact a number of U.S. troops were mobilized to 'retaliate' for an unspecified number of months, with at least 1200 casualties. The thing was called The Vietnam War, and it has since been declassified that the Gulf Of Tonkin "incident" was a false-flag LIE in order to crank up the war machine. Google "Gulf Of Tonkin False Flag", get some popcorn, and enjoy the evening with your family.

popeye1250 -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:57:04 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: jlf1961 Recently a story was posted on the web that turned out to be a hoax. The story was that a gun battle between Federal, State and local Law Enforcement agencies against a Mexican Drug gang in the town of Laredo TX. The story went viral and was reposted on the web a countless number of times. A google search using the term "Laredo Ranches taken over by Los Zetas came back with 8270 results, only one of them is a news outlet, and it quotes the diggersrealm story with no other statements. The story was reposted here last night. The story originated on diggersrealm from information relayed by Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk. The result was an overwhelming number of calls to the local Law Enforcement agencies, namely the Laredo PD and Webb County Sheriff's office, who denied the reports. A local tv station sent reporters out to the area and they returned saying nothing was going on, no law enforcement vehicles, no gun battle, nothing. The question is, should the person or persons who originated the story be held on criminal charges for the problems they caused to local law enforcement agencies with the shear volume of calls relating to the story? Ah......."rightious indignation!" Don'tcha just love it? JLF, so what else gets stuck in your craw?

DarlingSavage -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:57:43 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Slavehandsome Since anything could be considered 'misleading', then absolutely, Stalin's government would have imprisoned anybody for 'originating a misleading story'. Don't be an idiot. Then again, I don't know you, maybe you really are this much of an idiot.

servantforuse -> RE: Should originators of False and misleading stories be held criminally accountable? (7/25/2010 2:58:17 PM)
I think that con man Al Gore should be billed for perpetuating a global warming hoax ..

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