Walter Block Discusses His Lawsuit Against NYT that was Dismissed

The following email exchange took place between Prof, Walter Block of Loyola University, New Orleans and Sydney Smith, a reporter at iMediaEthics.

Dear Mr. Block,
>
> I am a reporter for US media ethics news website iMediaEthics (more about
> us below my signature).
>
> We are working on a brief news story about the dismissal of your lawsuit
> against the NYTimes over last year's article quoting you.
>
> Do you have any comment on the lawsuit dismissal?
>
> Thank you
> Sydney Smith
> reporter
>

 *As background :* Art Science Research Laboratory i <
> http://www.asrlab.org/>s
> a not-for-profit, co-founded by Rhonda Roland Shearer, an artist, art
> historian and journalist and her late husband, Harvard professor and
> scientist, Stephen Jay Gould.A  ASRL's non-partisan journalism ethics
> program and news site iMediaEthics <http://www.imediaethics.org>,
> encourages the media's use of scientific methods and experts before
> publication. iMediaEthics also publishes investigations of factual errors
> and ethical breaches by media outlets.

----

> Dear Mr. Smith:
>
> Yes, I have plenty to say about this miscarriage of justice. Do you want
> to interview me about this?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Walter
>
> Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
> Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
> Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
> Loyola University New Orleans


---

From: Sydney Smith
Sent: Wed 5/20/2015 1:30 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Re: Media Inquiry- NYTimes lawsuit

Dear Walter,
Thank you for your quick response, and apologies for my delayed response.

We have the following questions:

1) How did you end up interviewed by the Times to begin with?

<< they called me out of the blue. I had had no contact with them beforehand

Have you been interviewed as a libertarian expert before

<< Yes, I've given more than a few interviews on libertarianism since I became one in 1963

or did they reach out to you?

<<they reached out to me

2) The judge's ruling stated that you confirmed making the comments in
question but what upset you was what implication/suggestions you took from
the Times' use of your comments. Is this correct?

<< not exactly. what upset me was that the NYTimes took my comments entirely out of context. I was trying to explain libertarianism to them. in this regard I tried to examine precisely WHY slavery was an abomination, a heinous rights violation. My answer, it had nothing to do with picking cotton, singing songs, eating gruel. Rather, slavery is a vicious evil because it violates the non aggression principle. I made a hypothetical. suppose there were a system that resembled slavery in superficial ways, but was entirely voluntary. I said that that was "not so bad." From this they concocted the claim that I supported ACTUAL monstrous slavery.

3) Why did you decide to sue in lieu of pursuing a complaint through the
public editor's office, or did you also do this?

<< first I complained, asked for a retraction, clarification. I got a response saying they stood by what they wrote

4) Do you have any comment on the ruling?

<<yes, it was unjust

Can you appeal or is this thelast step?

<< an appeal has been filed yesterday.

Thank you for your time.

<< my pleasure. thanks for following up on this with me.

You may be interested in this more elaborate defense of my position:

Block, Walter E. 2015. “Walter Block Responds to a Critic Who Calls for His Removal as Loyola Professor.” May 16; http://www.targetliberty.com/2015/05/walter-block-responds-to-critic-who.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TargetLiberty+%28Target+Liberty%29

Regards,
Sydney