There is an interesting defamation case out of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Professor Derrick Evans is suing Huffington Post for a September 2018 story on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and partying at Georgetown Prep school. The article alleged that Evans committed drug offenses in scoring drugs for friends, particularly cocaine. The most extraordinary — and potentially defamatory — claim was that Evans and his friend Douglas Kennedy not only regularly bought and distributed cocaine but supplied the cocaine in April 1984 that killed Douglas’ brother, David.
HuffPo journalist Ashley Feinberg wrote the story entitled “Kavanaugh’s Prep School Party Scene Was a ‘Free-For-All’.” At the time, every and any allegation against Kavanaugh was being rushed to print and the filing suggested that the article was the result of this reckless period. Feinberg’s article was later scrubbed to remove any reference to the Kennedy brothers or Evans.
She is still listed as a senior reporter with the Huffington Post.
The Kennedy boys were the sons of the late U.S. Attorney General and Senator, Robert F. Kennedy.
Evans insists that there were no sources to support that story and that HuffPo’s conduct was so egregious that it satisfies the higher standard of New York Times v. Sullivan. That standard requires a showing of “actual malice,” or either knowledge that a representation is actually false or reckless disregard of the truth of the representation.
“Defendants had no sources to support their outrageously false and defamatory statements about Derrick Evans and Douglas Kennedy. Nor did Defendants make any effort whatsoever to contact Mr. Evans for comment before accusing him of not only of committing a crime, but of being responsible for the death of David Kennedy. Indeed, if Ms. Feinberg or her HuffPost editors had done even the most basic research of publicly available sources, she and they would have known, if they did not already know, that Mr. Evans actively assisted law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting the individuals who actually sold the illegal narcotics.”
Evans was one of the few African American students at Georgetown Prep and, after receiving a scholarship to go there, he earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Boston College. He then became a history professor and lecturer on American social history and the civil rights movement. He is also the co-founder of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, which funded recovery efforts in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida after the Katrina hurricane.
Deaf Amation and Mean Spirits at the Huff Post.
Baghdad Bob reporting style.
Her Twitter photo says it all, if this is the same Ashley Feinberg.
https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Anonymous – when you deep dive the comments, it is the right Ashley Feinberg and she is getting roasted.
“…she is getting roasted.”
And rightly so, apparently.
The Huff Post, NYT, WaPo, and the other 90% of news outlets maliciously and purposely impugned hundreds of people over the last 2 years, due to their hatred of AMerica and conservatives. They did it knowingly and intentionnally and anyone who suggests otherwise is lieing or has their head buried in the sand. They have stomped over all principles of news reporting and have caused unmeasurable harm to the US. I look forward to Evans and the Covington Catholic children winning large and punitive damages.
The only answer to an objectivist is require proof positive to anything said by The Collective of far left extremist socialists known falsely as Democrats. They can’t point to a single item or principle of democracy that is followed by the left. Everyone votes on everything? Not in that party and they routinely try to block others. The party is led by a bunch of hypocritical dictatorials and let us not forget their agents we call RINOs. Party of Peace. Not with their tarnished to soot and beyond record. The list goes on and on and on and all they have to say is”what about what about what about.” but when you look at it what about is one of their own agents for the most part.
It is about time these people are sued. Go getem.
Good for him. As Trump would say False Information and again FAKE NEWS.
He then became a history professor and lecturer on American social history and the civil rights movement. He is also the co-founder of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, which funded recovery efforts in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida after the Katrina hurricane.
IOW, they defamed one of their own, tried to cover their tuchus by scrubbing the article, but refused to make the necessary admissions and retractions which would have prevented a lawsuit. Sheer arrogance.
(Maybe one day academic graduate programs in this country will start recruiting blacks who have some scholarly interest other than American blackness. They used to do that, once upon a time).
“HuffPo journalist Ashley Feinberg wrote the story entitled “Kavanaugh’s Prep School Party Scene Was a ‘Free-For-All’.” At the time, every and any allegation against Kavanaugh was being rushed to print and the filing suggested that the article was the result of this reckless period. Feinberg’s article was later scrubbed to remove any reference to the Kennedy brothers or Evans.
She is still listed as a senior reporter with the Huffington Post.”
*********************************
Is Sabrina Rubin Erdely writing for Rolling Stone under a pen name now?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/10/20/author-discredited-rolling-stone-rape-story-defends-reporting/92452512/
The lack of journalist integrity has left the bodies of the truth lying around, killed by misinformation.
I hope the truth prevails in the lawsuit.
It is interesting that Kavanaugh’s name came up, as there is a book slated to be released that reveals some of the damaging information about Dr Ford that was not discussed at the hearing, out of sensitivity to a woman making an accusation of sexual assault.
Among the allegations is that Dr Ford deleted her social media account weeks before informing Diane Feinstein of her accusation. While she was presented as a political moderate, her social media page was actually virulently anti-Trump, showing extreme acrimony and bias. Until the hearing, she went by her maiden name, but suddenly started going by her title, “doctor” and her married name “Ford.” In addition, while Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook was parsed line by line for proof it was an unusually active party school, her own school’s yearbook had lewd remarks and references to hard partying. In fact, Dr Ford had a reputation as a heavy drinker who was aggressive with boys since the 7th grade, meaning that her getting into trouble predated her alleged assault.
As always, such allegations need to be thoroughly vetted. Let’s hope the authors and publishers covered their bases.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/08/justice-on-trial-blasey-ford/
We will have to see if any new evidence comes out about Dr Ford and the allegations.
She publishes in professional literature under the name ‘CM Blasey’. Searchers on White Pages and Ancestry.com turn up references to “Christine Blasey” and “Christine Ford”, so it’s a passable wager she uses her married name in some venues.
One contention has been that she has Google employees among her circle of acquaintances (former tenants, IIRC), and that she’d have needed professional help to scrub her internet trails so thoroughly.
That certainly seems possible.
Mixed feelings.
Obviously glad that the threat of a lawsuit will reimpose some discipline on the less honest of the press.
Sorry that Huffpost let their emotions overrule their common sense.
When the press loses credibility, (even, especially when it is their own fault), we all suffer.
Democracy needs a vibrant (and honest) press in order to prosper. Unfortunately, much of the press has become partisan (which is OK if known) and dishonest (which is not OK).
Sorry that Huffpost let their emotions overrule their common sense.
That’s a rather anodyne way of putting it.
TIA – your posts are effective at sharpening vocabulary. The English language has become dumbed down. I enjoy historical novels covering several periods. The vocabulary, puns, and literary references taken as a matter of course in middle class drawing rooms 150 years ago are foreign to middle class households of today.
One of the most well worn books from my childhood was a dictionary. If I did not know a word, my father would tell me to look it up rather than feed me an easy answer. I would often have the dictionary handy when I tackled more advanced literature in high school and college. Everyday conversation doesn’t seem to use a very broad vocabulary, which is our culture’s loss. This is especially true as words become politicized, and we excise precise words from the lexicon and authors from the body of knowledge.
Thank you for sharpening the saw, one of the benefits of the blog.
Ashley Feinberg, hoping ur reading this as your weakly held ‘hobby’ (since you are NOT a professional anything) disappears from your eyes. You deserve nothing less. Since you can defame anyone you feel like, I think you are vomit scum. Hears hoping ebola finds your path.
Great news!
Douglas K. was a reorter at Fox for several years…….maybe still is?
reporter
I think he has a good shot. And the SC wants to look at Sullivan again. Could be all good.
Evans is an interesting fellow. Curious how the MSM will lynch him
From the Biloxi, MS newspaper:
“The lawsuit is seeking damages, including punitive, but doesn’t state an amount sought.
Evans, who is African American, obtained a full academic scholarship to Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982. He was one of the only black students at Georgetown Prep at the time.
After earning bachelors and masters degrees from Boston College, Evans became a history professor and lecturer on American social history and the civil rights movement. In 1992, he was awarded Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges’ Certificate of Distinction in Teaching.
In 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Evans co-founded the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, which has directed over $5 million in critical funding to groups in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida, according to his lawsuit.”
https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/harrison-county/article234271017.html
Defamation case is good thing.
Huffington’s toast.
Darren…👍 and stale toast, at that.