The Des Moines Register, a Gannett publication,
has been hit with a lawsuit by incoming President Donald Trump for “brazen election interference,” stemming from a poll by Ann Selzer over a poll that put Kamala Harris way ahead of
Trump in Iowa, Reuters reports.
As it turns out, Trump comfortably won Iowa and enough of the rest of the country to be elected. The Selzer poll, which was published three days before
the election, obviously didn’t affect the race.
We haven’t seen the actual complaint, but it’s clear Trump was unhappy with the poll and the coverage
it got. Reuters writes that the suit seeks “accountability” for the alleged interference.
Assuming the case was filed, this should put fear into the hearts
of publishers and editors everywhere. It raises this question: Can a publication face liability for publishing an inaccurate poll?
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This isn’t a defamation suit, mind you: nobody
was defamed. It’s possible that the media overplayed the poll, but it was such an anomaly that it made news by itself. What’s the harm, and what was the offense?
You cannot be sued for defamation for publishing an inaccurate but non-defamatory story, especially if it concerns public figures. Do reporters make mistakes? Of course. As H.L. Mencken famously
said, “journalism is not an exact science.”
The same could be said about polling, apparently.
Gannett, which was named in
the suit, has the means to defend itself. Smaller publishers might not—they could get into trouble for publishing negative stories, whether accurate or inaccurate.
This can be seen
as a frivolous suit. But there is a bullying aspect to it. The news business should rise up and support Gannett and the Register. And absent defamation as the law defines it, nobody
should settle such a case out of court.