Categories: OLD Media Moves

Judge dismisses libel suit against Wall Street Journal

A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit by the former head of Venezuela’s National Assembly accusing The Wall Street Journal of libeling him in an article that identified him as the target of a U.S. drug trafficking investigation.

Brendan Pierson of Reuters reports, “U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday that Diosdado Cabello had failed to explain exactly how the article was false.

“Gary Redish, a lawyer for Cabello, said he was reviewing the decision with his client. Cabello has repeatedly denied any involvement in Venezuela’s drug trade in public statements.

“Cabello filed the lawsuit in May 2016 against News Corp subsidiary Dow Jones & Co, the newspaper’s owner, claiming that a May 2015 article contained ‘false and defamatory allegations’ that he was involved in criminal activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

“The article, headlined ‘Venezuelan Officials Suspected of Turning Country into Global Cocaine Hub,’ reported that Cabello was a leading target in U.S. investigations.”

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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.