Megan Thee Stallion<\/a>\u2019s defamation case against Milagro Cooper, who goes by Milagro Gramz on social media. Cooper had regularly covered the criminal trial of rapper Tory Lanez, who was eventually convicted of gun charges related to shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot. As part of her coverage, Cooper read court filings and relayed information from her sources. She also inserted clearly biased commentary, calling Megan Thee Stallion a \u201cprofessional victim\u201d and a liar, as well as claiming she was mentally unstable. And part of the reason Megan Thee Stallion dragged Cooper into court was because Cooper had encouraged her audience to seek out a deepfake sexually explicit video of the musician, wondering if the footage was authentic.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tMegan Thee Stallion\u2019s team was adamant that Cooper did not qualify as a journalist. Cooper pushed back, contending that she was part of an emerging demographic she described as \u201cnew media.\u201d \u201cI do much more than just writing articles, but at the same time, the legwork that official journalists do, I have done it time and time again,\u201d Cooper told the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe case didn\u2019t necessarily hinge on whether or not Cooper could be considered media \u2014 if she was deemed media she\u2019d be able to skirt some of the more hefty damages of the defamation charge because Megan Thee Stallion didn\u2019t send her a prior warning and opportunity to retract the statement \u2014 but it did provide an illuminating litmus test on whether everyday citizens saw a distinction between what Cooper posted and those of legacy news sites.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBefore being sent back to the deliberation room, a judge instructed the jury that \u201cto qualify as a \u2018media defendant\u2019 under Florida law, a party must be engaged in the dissemination of news and information to the public in order to initiate the uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate on public issues \u2026 the fact that a defendant is not affiliated with a traditional newspaper or broadcast station does not automatically disqualify them from being a media defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen the jury emerged after two days of deliberation, they found Cooper liable on all three counts: defamation, infliction of emotional distress, and promotion of an altered sexual depiction. But Cooper left the courthouse on a high. The jury believed she counted as a media defendant, which she viewed as a win. \u201cWhen all this shit started, I created a campaign geared towards saving NEW MEDIA,\u201d Cooper declared on X, formerly Twitter, a day after the verdict was reached. \u201cIt was so important to me that WE were recognized,\u201d adding that \u201cthis journey wasn\u2019t in vain. WE have been legitimized and we will be respected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe irony is, in the Blake Lively case, it almost seems like [Popcorned Planet] would qualify for the journalists\u2019 reporter\u2019s privilege, whereas in the [Meg Thee] Stallion case, not qualified as a media defendant, yet they both have flipped on their heads,\u201d Lovell says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile courts may be able to parse out who is a \u201cjournalist\u201d or a member of the \u201cmedia,\u201d a growing number of the general public doesn\u2019t seem to see a difference, explains Michael Spikes, a lecturer and program director at Northwestern\u2019s Medill School of Journalism. \u201cWhat we\u2019re finding is that the line between the mainstream, or the more institutional outlets of information,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t even call it blurry, just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSpikes says audiences are gravitating towards content creators over mainstream outlets because of the \u201ccontinual drumbeat of mainstream outlets being thought of as biased or not trustworthy\u201d compared to these new independent voices, who people tend to see as \u201cmore authentic because they don\u2019t follow the same techniques\u201d as news outlets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBut creators still seem to want the distinction of being viewed as a \u201cjournalist,\u201d even if they aren\u2019t necessarily following the same set of standards. \u201cI think there\u2019s still a patina that\u2019s put on the idea of media that I think content creators are still striving for,\u201d Spikes says. \u201cThey still want to be called that. They don\u2019t want to just be called content creators.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the criminal trial of Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs in New York City over the summer, content creators and new media competed with traditional news outlets, including the New York Times<\/em>, CNN, TMZ, and Complex<\/em>, for the coveted 21 seats reserved for press. Some had true-crime YouTube channels with more than 1 million subscribers; others were newcomers with minuscule audiences, hoping their trial coverage would give their followings a boost. Many were able to secure city-credentialed press passes by demonstrating they were covering the trial in the same way newsroom-affiliated reporters secured their badges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tThese independent journalists, pop-culture commentators, and creators who live-stream proceedings and analyze court documents have become fixtures in public discourse, with many providing valuable context and highlighting overlooked details. However, some can offer sensationalized commentary, commit serious factual blunders, or blur\u00a0reporting with personal opinion, making it harder for audiences to distinguish between journalism and entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tFor now, the consequences of that ambiguity vary wildly depending on the courtroom. Signore may be denied reporter\u2019s privilege, in part, because a judge suggested his platform didn\u2019t resemble traditional media. In another, a jury extended the legal protections reserved for media defendants to Cooper, whose work included both reporting and openly partisan commentary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBoth outcomes reflect the same unresolved question: who gets to be recognized as a journalist in an age when journalism may no longer be tethered to legacy institutions?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Blake Lively aired explosive claims of sexual harassment and an unsafe work environment from former co-star Justin Baldoni following the disastrous press tour…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":53800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}