(6-17-04) US channel's BBC remarks censured. "UK media watchdog Ofcom has criticised US cable channel Fox News over views a presenter expressed about the BBC. Ofcom said Fox News breached guidelines when commentator John Gibson claimed the BBC had displayed "a frothing-at-the-mouth" anti-American bias. . . The network [in defense of Gibson] also said searching for the phrase "BBC anti-American" into the Google internet search engine resulted in 47,200 hits.
Comment: . American courts have not treated web content with such trustworthiness as Fox News does.
For example, in St. Clair v. Johnny's Oyster & Shrimp, Inc., 76 F. Supp. 2d 773, 774, 775 (S.D. Tex. 1999), after the plaintiff was injured on a sea vessel, he sought to establish ownership of the sea vessel from evidence obtained from the web. The court rejected the trustworthiness of the data and stated:
While some look to the Internet as an innovative vehicle for communication, the Court continues to warily and wearily view it largely as one large catalyst for rumor, innuendo, and misinformation. So as to not mince words, the Court reiterates that this so-called Web provides no way of verifying the authenticity of the alleged contentions that Plaintiff wishes to rely upon. . . . There is no way Plaintiff can overcome the presumption that the information he discovered on the Internet is inherently untrustworthy. Anyone can put anything on the Internet. No web-site is monitored for accuracy and nothing contained therein is under oath or even subject to independent verification absent underlying documentation. Moreover, the Court holds no illusions that hackers can adulterate the content on any web-site from any location at any time. For these reasons, any evidence procured off the Internet is adequate for almost nothing, even under the most liberal interpretation of the hearsay exception rules found in FED. R. EVID. 807. Instead of relying on the voodoo information taken from the Internet, Plaintiff must hunt for hard copy back-up documentation in admissible form.
