Posts Tagged shirley sherrod

Shirley Sherrod has announced that she will sue conservative internet publisher Andrew Breitbart for defamation. Could she win?

Doubtful. Yes, someone (allegedly not Breitbart) edited the video to make Sherrod look as bad as possible. But she was still shown speaking her own words. In an era when public officials are falsely accused of murder (remember the Clinton Chronicles video pushed by Jerry Falwell?), I think it’s going to be very difficult to convict someone of defamation when they don’t literally make up crazy, nasty stuff.