Categories: OLD Media Moves

Why a coal company keeps suing reporters

Murray Energy, the largest privately owned coal company in the United States, has continued a string of lawsuits against reporters who cover the company, reports Jonathan Peters of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Peters writes, “At least one of those cases is ongoing, and none has produced a judgment on the merits for the plaintiffs—instead the cases have settled, or the journalists so far have prevailed on pre-trial motions. Just this month, on May 12, a federal judge in Ohio dismissed Murray’s claims against Stark for defamation and false light invasion of privacy. A few days earlier, a state judge in Ohio granted the Chagrin Valley Times’ motion for summary judgment in a case Murray brought in 2012. (He’s filing an appeal.)

“Why is Murray so litigious? According to the company, it’s not. In an emailed statement, Murray Energy said the company and its owner ‘maintain very good working relationships’ with hundreds of news outlets, use defamation lawsuits only ‘as a last resort to contest false and damaging lies,’ and ‘have never used defamation lawsuits to chill free speech.’

“But, the statement continued: ‘An individual can be destroyed by a pen just as easily as a bullet and we will always push back against those who seek to defame us.’ (The full statement is posted at the end of this article.)

“Murray has every right to defend his reputation and to use defamation law to redress real harms—and to the extent he’s trying do to that, good for him. But the company is a major player in local economies, Murray himself is active in politics, and his record of suing journalists or threatening to sue them—whatever his motivations—does stand to chill reporting on business and industry practices that are of public concern. And, in at least some of the suits Murray has filed or threatened, his actions appear to offend traditional notions of free expression.”