Judge Rules Against CNN For Reporting (Fake) Dishonest Story About Florida Hospital

Via Billy
 

But please, CNN – tell us more about how honest and impartial you are. Sheesh, even the legal system isn’t buying your crap anymore.

According to this, the former CEO of St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Davide Carbone, sued CNN after they reported a story that made the hospital look bad. Carbone’s case claimed that CNN manipulated certain statistics to make it look like the hospital had an infant mortality rate “three times the national average” –

“In our case, we contended that CNN essentially made up its own standard in order to conduct an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison to support its false assertion that St. Mary’s mortality rate was 3 times higher than the national average. Accordingly, the case against CNN certainly fits the description of media-created ‘Fake News.’” said Carbone’s attorney L. Lin Wood, in a statement to LawNewz.com.

Wood says that as a result of CNN’s story Carbone lost his job and it became extremely difficult for him to find new employment in the field of hospital administration.

“False and defamatory accusations against real people have serious consequences. Neither St. Mary’s nor Mr. Carbone did anything to deserve being the objects of the heinous accusation that they harmed or put babies and young children at risk for profit,” Wood said.

Carbone disputed the story, sued CNN, and now a judge has ruled in favor of the hospital, saying the case can go forward –

On Wednesday, Federal District Judge Orinda Evans ruled that the case could move forward, even ruling that she found that CNN may have acted with “actual malice” with the report — a standard necessary to prove a defamation claim.

“The Court finds these allegations sufficient to establish that CNN was acting recklessly with regard to the accuracy of its report, i.e., with ‘actual malice,” the order reads. CNN had tried to get the case dismissed.

Think about it – this story isn’t about making Donald Trump or any other government official look bad. It’s not a front-page story, nor is it really national news. I’m sure it’s important to the employees and the patients of the hospital, probably even the people of West Palm Beach.

But beyond that – what purpose would falsifying information in the story serve? Who are they trying to take down? Or was it a slow news day and CNN needed to cook up something juicy to boost ratings and/or clicks?