JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS Blog
Journalists on trial for defamation in Paraguay
Three journalists from TV station Canal 9 in Paraguay, and the ex-director of the National Television System (SNT in Spanish), Ismael Hadid, are on trial for defamation and libel, according to the newspaper ABC of Paraguay.
Reporter Silvio Cuevas, host Yolanda Park, and the press director for the channel, Andrés Caballero, were sued by a lawyer, Evelio Fabio Salinas, after Cuevas interviewed on May 8, 2010, a woman who accused the lawyer of falsifying birth certificates in order to facilitate adoptions.
That woman, María Tomasa Lugo Benítez, filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office for supposed falsification of public documents, and she named the lawyer, Salinas, in her complaint. The woman announced her complaint to the media.
The lawyer is seeking $300 million in damages, according to the newspaper ABC.
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Cut and dry
It is always difficult when money comes into play, but it seems pretty cut and dry. If you can find the falsification of the documents than there is no slander or defamation. If not than you will be in trouble, but it must be knowingly false.
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