Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ sued for libel by Venezuelan politician

The former head of Venezuela’s National Assembly filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing the Wall Street Journal of libeling him in an article, reports Nate Raymond of Reuters.

Raymond writes, “Diosdado Cabello filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against News Corp, the newspaper’s owner, and alleged that the May 2015 article contained ‘false and defamatory allegations’ that he was involved in criminal activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

“The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from News Corp and its Dow Jones subsidiary, which was also named as a defendant.

“Dow Jones spokeswoman Colleen Schwartz said in a statement that it would ‘vigorously defend’ itself against the lawsuit and that it had ‘full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting.’

“According to the lawsuit, the story has caused ‘enormous damage to Mr. Cabello’s reputation and good name, both personally and in his capacity as a key member of Venezuela’s National Assembly.'”

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.