Joe Sharkey Went To Brazil And All He Got Was This Lousy Lawsuit
This variety of libel tourism preys on the writer/professional traveler. This time, the Brazilians are going after New York Times columnist Joe Sharkey. Interesting piece on HuffPo by Blake Fleetwood, a former New York Times/Daily News writer, about what happened after travel writer Sharkey, whose work I like, wrote about his near-death experience on a flight over the Brazilian jungle:
Sharkey is being sued for $280,000 (which he will certainly lose, since he is not defending the suit in Brazilian Courts) after which he will most likely be indicted for the criminal charge of causing "dishonor to Brazil" -- an extraditable offense -- which might result in several years jail time in Brazil. If they can grab him. He has no plans to go to Brazil anytime soon.But Sharkey is nervous, he feels abandoned and left hanging in the wind by most journalist organizations.
Despite 14 years of writing for The New York Times --- his business travel column appears every Tuesday -- he is technically a freelance writer and is not being represented by the Times' lawyers. He was on a freelance assignment for another magazine. He also feels that many press organizations and journalism magazines basically treated him like a pariah, an insignificant freelancer.
...Fortunately for Sharkey, last week the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bi-partisan bill that protects U.S. writers and bloggers from defamation suits in countries that have less robust protections of free speech than in the United States. Foreign libel judgments would not be enforced unless they conformed to U.S. standards.
On July 27th, the House of Representatives passed the same bipartisan legislation authored by Senators Partrick Leahy (D-VT) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) which the President is expected to sign shortly.
The bill known as "Rachel's Law" was named after Rachel Ehrenfeld, a U.S. writer who was sued in England by a Saudi billionaire that she had accused of financing terrorist groups. The British court ruled against her by default, ordering her to pay $230,000 in damages and legal fees.
Ehrenfeld's book was never published or sold in Britain. It is a suit that never could have been filed, much less won, in the U.S.
Now Sharkey and Ehrenfeld will at least be safe in the U.S. But the new law will not protect them outside of the country, which will surely hamper their ability to travel and practice their professions.
I'm still amazed by folks who extoll the virtues of other places while ignoring their faults.
My parents had a friend who went to Brazil often on business. He said the women were beautiful, but the food was awful. Note to Brazilian authorities: I'm not sure what your statute of limitations is, but the guy is long dead.
On a more serious note, Rachel's law is far overdue.
MarkD at August 6, 2010 6:05 AM
I'm glad to hear that this law passed and that it had bipartisan support. See, there are a few things we can agree on.
And yes, Sharkey's in a tough spot now. There are a lot of countries that would be happy to either arrest him and extradite him to Brazil on a bogus warrant, or just allow Brazilian bounty hunters to come into their country (after a payoff, of course) and grab him.
Cousin Dave at August 6, 2010 7:48 AM
Are Brazilians always this touchy?
I know they got kinda upset after that one Simpsons episode...
lsomber at August 6, 2010 12:36 PM
Kidnapper #1 "Look at all that pink and purple"
Kidnapper #2 "You know, our money really is gay"
lujlp at August 6, 2010 3:01 PM
Well...THAT is certainly good publicity. Smart move Brazil.
Robert at August 7, 2010 11:04 AM
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