That’s the quote I received this week for the liability insurance I plan to buy. It covers my new book, “Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail” (Penguin/Portfolio, April 14, 2011) and freelancing for print and blogging for this site. It carries a $5,000 deductible.
While three grand is a petty sum to many people, it is not to me. It is a bloody fortune. But the drama and stress of being sued is so not worth it to me.
The fear of being sued is why most blogs are all about puppies and kittens and sex and recipes — safe stuff no one will come after you for.
Which is why most blogs have this effect on anyone hungry for serious, in-depth news, analysis or reporting: zzzzzzzzzzzzz. No one in their right mind is itching for a lawsuit and Americans are deeply addicted to the lottery ticket of a big fat win.
Not to mention the fear of SLAPP suits. These are Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, aka muzzles. If you piss off just about anyone, they can come after you and sue you to shut you right back up. Freedom of what?
In an era of staggering, growing income inequality, you can rest assured that anyone eager to rake muck is making a whole lot less money — maybe 1 percent? — of the people they might want to write about critically. This is, hmmm, how you say, de-motivating in the extreme. Do readers even know this?
Do they — you — even care?
Very few writers of any ambition want to keep biting their tongue, self-censoring, sitting on what they know to be a potentially explosive story. But, why bother? What’s the upside of being the writer or blogger best-known for becoming a cautionary tale? Oooops, s/he took a risk. Look what happened!
The irony is that everyone now thinks that being able to blog at will means being able to say anything you want. Mwahahahahahaha.
As if.
It really means you have all the freedom in the world, certainly if you have little to no understanding of media law, to get your ass sued.
It used to be said that freedom of the press belonged to those who owned one. Now that freedom only truly resides in the deep(er) pockets of those who can afford to get sued and defend themselves — people who work on staff for major news organizations with in-house counsel. More importantly, their copy is “lawyered”, vetted carefully before print or broadcast to avoid such debacles, a luxury — when top New York attorneys can command $700+/hour — most bloggers and freelancers can only dream of.
So, instead of muckraking and investigative work, the sort of thing you’d expect from someone independent, free of corporate ties, most freelancers are stuck cranking out polite, celebratory crap.
This is progress?
Broadside 
Frightening prospect. Thanks for bringing it up. And yes, 3K is a lot of money to me as well.
Something I didn’t even think about. Which means if you’re found libel you have to pay the 5k deductible on top of the insurance. And that crap on Fox News is libel free? I’ve always heard about a “break even” point for corporations. As an example, if it takes 20 million to make a coal mine safe or only ten million to pay off dead miners’ wives guess which way the owner is going.
No, I imagine almost no media consumers do. But that’s why I flagged it….Spent the morning (grrrr, supposed to be ON VACATION) with my book publisher’s attorney going over the ms…It is at worst terrifying and at least really annoying to stop your work (done ethically) and worry about every possible source of litigation. But not thinking about it is crazy as well.
Good try dear. and i imagine almost no media consumers do. But that’s why I flagged it and Spent the morning. good try dear.