I spent my life behind a radio microphone, so am loathe to call for any broadcaster’s firing, knowing as I do, how easy it is to step in it, but sitting down to tweet is a DELIBERATIVE* act, something done ON PURPOSE, after THINKING ABOUT IT, and this tweet was formed with CLEAR MALICE OF INTENT, a DECLARATIVE statement making a DISGUSTING CAUSAL link from facts NOT IN EVIDENCE to fundraising from his outraged supporters, and thus, appears, to me, a non-lawyer, to be a LIBELOUS SLANDER.
Perhaps it’s short of the textbook definition of “libel,” so perhaps the law is not the place to seek remedy, but MSNBC should! If for no other reason than to maintain the integrity (such as it is) of the brand.
*NOTE: This is not to suggest that broadcasting is not a “deliberative act, something done on purpose, after thinking about it”:) but clearly, when one talks into a microphone, live, the nature of one’s utterances is far less regulated, and rightly subject to a much wider berth for forgiveness.
h/t NewsBusters - “MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tweets ‘Sexual Harassment Is a Lucrative Side Gig’ for Herman Cain”
