🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1999-04-24-02-00.0@chch.demon.co.uk>,
  Charles Bryant <n94116989.ch@chch.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> I don't think that can be so clear cut. News has trolling, which does
> not seem to appear in other media, so it's quite possible for someone to
> post an article with quite outrageous views just for the fun of seeing
> who gets taken in by it, and when the author admits they were only
> trolling, those taken in may feel that they have harmed their own
> reputations by showing how gullible they are. In a medium with this
> phenomenon it is certainly arguable that material is subject to a much
> more sceptical appraisal, leading to material which is quite serious in
> other media being innocuous here, and material which is totally
> unacceptable in other media being fairly mild here.

Yes, this is a well-tried argument that has cost the likes of Private Eye,
Scallywag and various other satirical publications much money in the past.
Saying you were only joking doesn't work, I'm afraid.

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