The Pilot and Review, a small newspaper in Wausau, Wisconsin, reported on a county board meeting. At the meeting a local businessman, Cory Tomczyk, called a 13-year-old boy a “fag.” The paper reported this.
Mr. Tomczyk is now a Republican state senator. He sued the paper. He lost. He appealed. The paper’s legal bills have already climbed to $150,000.
Republicans suing small newspapers (or major ones, in the case of Trump) have become quite common. The effort is not about getting to the truth; it is about shutting the papers down. Papers like the Pilot and Review, barely scraping by, are particularly vulnerable. So much for press freedom.
Could Mr. Tomczyk sue me for posting this? I don’t know, but I think he is a complete butthole.
See Jeremy W. Peters, “After Report on Anti-Gay Slur, a Local News Site Fights for Life,” New York Times, (Aug. 16, 2023), p. B1, B6.
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