Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS Corp. and Showtime Networks were sued by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who claims the satirist tricked him into appearing on his Who Is America? show and then made him look like a pedophile and sex offender. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington with claims of defamation and fraud. It seeks $95 million in damages.
A charged political race, allegations of partisan attacks, a national outlet viewed with distrust by many in the state (and around the country): the Moore story serves as a microcosm for our parallel media universes.
How Sinclair’s WBMA Compromised News
The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik: “On CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, I explained how Sinclair used its WBMA Birmingham, Ala., last week to try to attack the credibility of a Washington Post article in which a women says Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14 and he was 32. I also explained how Breitbart promoted the WBMA report with a headline on its homepage saying: “Alabama ABC affiliate can’t find one voter who believes [Washington Post] report about Roy Moore in man on the street segment.”
