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UnitedHealthcare sues The Guardian for defamation

UnitedHealthcare is suing The Guardian for defamation over a story related to its billing for nursing home residents, reports Maxwell Tani of Semafor.

Tani reports, “In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, UnitedHealthcare said that The Guardian had knowingly published false information, and tried to capitalize on media interest in the killing of its then-CEO last year in New York. The health care company alleged that The Guardian cropped screenshots quoted in the article, taking the email out of its full context. It further disputed some of The Guardian’s characterizations of medical events in the story.

“‘The Guardian knew these accusations were false, but published them anyway, brazenly trying to capitalize on the tragic and shocking assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s then-CEO, Brian Thompson,’ the complaint says.

“UnitedHealthcare is being represented by the law firm Clare Locke, which has made a name for itself for aggressively pursuing defamation lawsuits against news media organizations.

“In a fiery statement first shared with Semafor, The Guardian said it was not backing down from its reporting following the lawsuit, saying that the story was backed up by documents and on-the-record lawsuits.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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