-Caveat Lector-
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory
For Immediate Release: July 12, 2001
Contact:
Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
+1 415 436-9333 x108
Will Doherty, EFF Media Relations, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
+1 415 436-9333 x111
Bank Pres Drags Journalist into NY Court Over Drug Expose
Electronic Frontier Foundation Urges U.S. Court to Respect
Mexican Rulings
New York City, NY - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
today urged a New York state court to respect Mexican court
rulings that have disallowed lawsuits against independent
journalist Al Giordano for publishing allegations of drug
trafficking by Banco Nacional de Mexico President Roberto
Hernandez Ramirez.
EFF seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of online,
independent journalists against the abusive "shopping" by
large, powerful corporations for favorable jurisdictions.
The Mexican bank brought the case against a Mexican-based
website, The Narco News Bulletin
( http://www.narconews.com ), produced solely by Giordano.
"The EFF is concerned that the bank resorted to New York
courts to try to shut down this website because it could
not do so in Mexican courts," said Cindy Cohn, Legal
Director for the EFF. "This kind of forum shopping
threatens to shut down one of the greatest benefits of
the Internet -- giving a voice to independent,
Internet-based journalists. Faced with having to defend
themselves in far-flung jurisdictions, many independent
journalists will simply choose not to publish on the
Internet."
The case arises from allegations published on the The Narco
News Bulletin website that the bank president was involved
in illegal activities in Mexico. The EFF filed an amicus
brief urging the New York court to rule that it was
improper for the bank to force Mr. Giordano into New York
state court for the statements posted on the website. The
hearing on the case is set for July 20, 2001.
Since April 18, 2000, Al Giordano has produced The Narco
News Bulletin, an online newspaper devoted to spirited
investigative journalism on the US-Latin America drug
trade. Articles posted on The Narco News Bulletin website
have discussed allegations by others that Roberto
Hernandez Ramirez, the president of the Banco Nacional de
Mexico, is involved in drug trafficking. Some of these
stories were reprinted articles from the Mexican
newspaper Por Esto!, published in Mexico by Mario Renato
Menendez.
After failing three times to sue Menendez in Mexico over
the allegations, Banco Nacional de Mexico now seeks to
force Menendez and Giordano to defend themselves in New
York state court against the same basic claims. The New
York case groups together the allegations against the
Mexican-based website, hosted in Maryland, with statements
made by Menendez and Giordano in New York City on a radio
broadcast and at a Columbia University Law School
conference.
The EFF amicus brief asked the Court to adopt one of two
courses of action. First, in order to deter abusive forum
shopping, the EFF asked the court to dismiss the case
since Mexican law governs the dispute.
Alternatively, since Narconews.com mainly republished
investigative work done by others, the EFF asked the
New York court to apply a distinct legal standard for
libel claims related to republished statements. The
legal standard requires that a republisher had, or should
have had substantial reasons to question the accuracy
of the articles. EFF believes that this higher liability
standard for republishing on the Internet is necessary
to encourage the growth of Internet journalism.
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
and challenges industry and government to support free
expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world:
http://www.eff.org/
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