Law and Cessation: Ott and Mack's Illustration of Slander and Libel

Focusing on another aspect of governmental authority permeating the media industries, Brian L.Ott and Robert L. Mack acknowledge that there are also prescriptions which have as their objective the cessation of untrue discourse aimed in the direction of an individual or group, while also enlisting the justice system’s muscle in correlation (88). The forces suggested by Ott and Mack locate their strength while observing the conceptions of society’s news, whether through our televisions or news products on paper (88). In this context, Slander and libel are provided the spotlight: the former speaks of an enunciated speech by a figure that that has not relationship with the concept of truth and is indeed a comment designed for strike, while the latter does its bidding in the realm of documents, such as magazines, but carries with it slander’s aggressive characterization (Ott and Mack 88). In a situational scenario which includes slander or libel in the midst of its purview, there is a significance allotted to the justice system: Ott and Mack suggest that the different aspects of legal practice whose spotlight is shifted within the direction of these striking discourses has great strength (89). This is certainly the illustration which the author’s wish to incite by their suggestion that a detrimental economic hit is the reward for media affiliates whose actions can be legally situated alongside the forces of slander or libel (Ott and Mack 89).

Mats Sundin, Centre
Source: NHL.com

I recall being in my grade 11 law class, when my teacher utilized the hockey player Mats Sundin to paint the portrait of libel. He suggested that a reporter can write statements about performance, perhaps suggesting that he is a mediocre athlete. On the other hand, he cannot say that the previous evening, he saw Sundin at an establishment engaging with alcohol, and acknowledge that such a decision provided a hand in poor play, if the story is only relegated to the realm of fiction. According to the words of Ott and Mack, it is the conception of legal strength which will allow a cessation of attacking discourses to arise, which is certainly an injection of positive assurance in media.

                                                                                   Works Cited

 

 

Mats Sundin, Centre. 2008. Getty Images. NHL.com. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Ott, Brian L., and Robert L. Mack. “Pragmatic Analysis. Critical Media Studies:

     an Introduction. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. 72-97. Print.