福克斯新闻 法官驳回科文顿一高中生对《华盛顿邮报》的起诉（在线收听）

Breaking news tonight on the $250 million defamation lawsuit that was filed by Covington Catholic Student Nicholas Sandmann against the Washington Post to federal judges has just issued a ruling. Chief Breaking News Correspondent Trace Gallagher got THE STORY for us tonight. Trace? And Martha, the breaking news is that lawsuit has been dismissed. In the lawsuit and in court, the attorneys for Nick Sandmann argued that The Washington Post ignore journalistic standards and bullied the teen by "publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles which effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President." But federal judge William Bertelsman appointed by Jimmy Carter dismissed the case saying the accusations were not supported by the plain language of The Washington Post article. The judge went on to say, when it comes to modern libel laws, there are many defenses, even in the case of defamatory statements.

今晚的突发新闻是，联邦法官刚刚发布一场诽谤官司的裁决，该诉讼是由科文顿天主教高中学生尼古拉斯·桑德曼提出的，要求《华盛顿邮报》索赔2.5亿美元。今晚的THE STORY节目中，我们要与突发新闻首席记者特雷斯·加拉格尔连线。特雷斯？玛莎，这条突发新闻是，诉讼被驳回了。在诉讼案和法庭中，尼克·桑德曼的律师表示，《华盛顿邮报》无视新闻准则，而且欺负青少年，他们“在报纸上和网上刊登了一系列虚假的诽谤文章，这有效地扩大了全世界诋毁一个年轻男孩的声音，在他们看来，他是一件在反对总统的斗争中可以接受的牺牲品。”但吉米·卡特任命的联邦法官威廉·贝特尔斯曼驳回此案，他表示，《华盛顿邮报》文章中的简明语言并不支持指控内容。法官还说，根据现代诽谤法，有许多辩解，甚至在诽谤性言论的案件中也有。

Remember, Nick Sandmann was widely vilified after cell phone video clip showed him staring down Native American Nathan Phillips. But the full video clearly shows that Sandmann and his Covington High School classmates were not the instigators. But Judge Bertelsman says, it appears Nathan Phillips felt he was being blocked by the students and his opinion, the judge wrote, "he -- meaning Mr. Phillips, passed those conclusions onto The Post. They may have been erroneous, but as discussed above, they are an option protected by the First Amendment. And The post is not liable for publishing those opinions." Nick Sandmann's father release this statement about the dismissal. Quoting, "If what was done to Nicholas is not legally actionable, then no one is safe." Sandmann's lawyers also wrote, quote, "The law must protect innocent minors targeted by journalists publishing click-bait sensationalized news." The attorneys are also planning to appeal the decision, lawsuits against CNN and NBC are still pending, Martha. Yeah, that one was far from over, I think. Trace, thank you very much.

要记得，尼克·桑德曼曾被大肆诽谤，这发生在一个手机视频短片发布之后，该短片显示，他盯着美国原住民南森·菲利普斯看。但是完整视频清楚地显示，桑德曼和他科文顿的高中同学并非煽动者。但贝特尔斯曼法官表示，南森·菲利普斯看起来感觉自己被学生们堵住了，他认为，法官写道：“他——指菲利普斯先生——把这些结论传递给了《华盛顿邮报》。他们可能是错误的，但正如上述讨论，他们是被第一修正案所保护的。《华盛顿邮报》对发表这些观点并不负有责任。”尼克·桑德曼的父亲发表了这一声明，关于驳回案件的声明。表示“如果他们对尼古拉斯的所作所为在法律上并不可行，那么没有一个人是安全的。”桑德曼的律师也写道：“法律必须保护被记者中伤的无辜未成年人，这些标题党记者发表了危言耸听的新闻。”律师还计划对决定提出上诉，对CNN和NBC的诉讼尚未审理，玛莎。是的，我觉得这件事离结束还远着呢。特雷斯，非常感谢你。