OPUBCO / Oklahoman Business Practices

[HOT ROD]

Yes you can.

No you can't. speaking from experience, lived in China for more than 4 years back in the GOOD OLE DAYS (pre Xi Jing Ping), foreigners CANT buy land in China, in fact, nobody can. What you "buy" is a lease and foreigners can't buy that either. With Foreigners, it's a temporary investment that is owned by a Chinese person. You're essentially renting either way, with "purchase" being the most expension option. It is therefore that I didn't "Purchase" a lease while I was there but instead I rented similar to a landlord tenant agreement we have here. ....

So WHY does China think it can buy land in other countries when you can't do so there? Furthermore, we're not talking about a chinese citizen, these are state owned or sponsored (meaning, owned but not directly controlled) businesses that have been buying land here for the sole purpose of 1) money laundering and 2) spying on the US, with a third benefit of 3) crop harvesting (you know the crop). WHY has america been allowing this? When an American could do NONE of this in china (not that anyone non-criminal would want to)?

FACTS

[HOT ROD]

from what i can tell, a non-citizen can purchase one property in china to live in as a primary residence after 12 months of residency on a valid visa. i don't think that would include purchasing land.

correctamundo! and it's not the same as a US green card. It is a residency that allows you to remain without leaving - no rights, no benefits (not that china even has any for its own citizens). ..

[ditm4567]

https://nondoc.com/2024/02/05/jury-a...ial-concludes/

Justice.

[fortpatches]

https://nondoc.com/2024/02/05/jury-a...ial-concludes/

Justice.

> “When you punish Gannett, you’re punishing all those small-town newspaper editors.”
In other words, "We shouldn't be liable for what we say! If we are, then we will retaliate by shutting down some of our business!"

[Pete]

‘Oklahoman’ defamation verdict rocks newspaper industry
By: Chip Minty//The Journal Record//February 7, 2024//

Oklahoma’s largest newspaper plans to appeal while a high school teacher and coach tries to put his life back together after an explosive defamation verdict resulted in a $25 million award that shook the media industry on Monday.

Tulsa Attorney Michael Barkett, lead counsel for plaintiff Scott Sapulpa, says his client is grateful for the judgment handed down in Muskogee County District Court. He said he hopes publicity from the case will repair damage The Oklahoman did to Sapulpa’s reputation three years ago.

The Muskogee County jury awarded Sapulpa $5 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages after finding the newspaper responsible for defamation through its reporting of a racist rant that happened at a Norman High School girls basketball game in March 2021.

Monday’s verdict attracted national news coverage and prompted industry experts to reflect on pressure from today’s 24-hour news cycle and to wonder if lean staffing budgets are impacting traditional legal and ethical reporting standards.

The civil suit stems from an Oklahoman news account that misidentified Sapulpa as the broadcaster responsible for a tirade of expletives and racial slurs that were caught in a hot mic moment inadvertently livestreamed by the National Federation of High School broadcast network.

After The Oklahoman published its story about the incident, Sapulpa’s broadcast partner, Matt Rowan, released a statement, taking responsibility for disparaging comments about Norman team members who kneeled during the national anthem before the state playoff game between Norman and Midwest City.

Rowen reacted to the team’s gesture with an extended commentary of expletives and slurs.

“They’re kneeling? (Expletive) (racial slur). “I hope Norman gets their ass kicked. (Expletive) them. I hope they lose… They’re going to kneel like that? Hell no.”

Video of the hot mic incident went viral on X, known then as Twitter.

The Oklahoman’s misidentification of Sapulpa as the speaker resulted in a quick and severe onslaught of negative reactions. Barkett said his client was labeled a vile racist and he claimed in court that the paper stuck with its inaccurate attribution despite having information that its reporting was inaccurate.

As a consequence, Sapulpa’s world turned upside down, Barkett said. He faced a barrage of threats, hate calls, and messages after the story was published and picked up by other media outlets. The story led to his virtual termination from his position as a football coach and teacher in Hobart. Ultimately, Sapulpa was forced to delete all social media accounts after his contact information went viral, resulting in further harassment.

A spokeswoman for Gannett, which owns The Oklahoman, has said the company will appeal the Muskogee County court’s decision.

Attempts to reach the company for further comment were not successful, but in a statement published on Monday by The Oklahoman, Gannett spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton said Gannett is disappointed with the verdict.

“There was no evidence presented to the jury that The Oklahoman acted with any awareness that what was reported was false or with any intention to harm the plaintiff in this case.”

According to an account published in The Oklahoman on Monday, the newspaper corrected the online story within two and a half hours as information became clear that Sapulpa’s co-announcer was the person who made the inflammatory remarks. The paper said that Sapulpa’s name did not appear in the print version of the story that appeared the next day.

Barkett, however, says the jury made the right decision.

“Gannett and The Oklahoman certainly didn’t take any responsibility,” he said. “They denied it all the way. We are grateful for the jury, and I know Scott and his family are grateful. It was a long three years and this was a righteous verdict.”

Since leaving his teaching and football coaching job in Hobert, Sapulpa is now teaching and coaching softball at Pawhuska High School, hoping to eventually resume his career as a high school football coach.

Barkett said he hopes news of this verdict will be circulated as far and wide as the original story did, so his client’s name will be effectively cleared. The appeal process could take months or even a year to complete.

David Craig, University of Oklahoma journalism professor and interim dean of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications, said the case is a cautionary tale for all publications to consider.

Publications face increasing stress due to lean editing and reporting staffs and increasing pressure for rapid online publication amid a 24-hour news cycle. That can erode editing scrutiny for legal and ethical problems.

“The effort to maintain ethical and legal standards is harder to maintain in this new media environment,” he said.

Regardless of what ultimately happened in this case, Craig said it serves as an important reminder that the industry should double down on the need to keep legal and ethical standards in place, which is hard to do under today’s deadline and staffing pressures. There are temptations to cut corners, which makes it even harder.

[Pete]

"The Oklahoman corrected the story within 2.5 hours"...

But the Internet is forever and beyond savage. That clip with the plaintiff's name attached went absolutely viral and there is no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube; it was everywhere in a flash and no one ever bothered to look again at the corrected story in the newspaper, just kept forwarding and sharing the version where this guy was deemed an evil racist. I clearly remember hearing the audio. Is there anything less sympathetic to people on the web than a white middle-aged man from a small town in Oklahoma using racial slurs toward female high school basketball players?

Once the outrage machine gets fired up, your actual physical safety is threatened, especially in wide-open Oklahoma where people get quickly doxed due to the open nature of all our public records.

And what was the Oklahoman doing putting this story out so quickly and prominently?? It was to get internet traffic and clicks, not some altruistic pursuit of public good. Spare me the attempted emotional appeal about 'small-town newspapers'. Gannett had nearly $3 billion in revenue in 2022 and has fired thousands of journalists in just the last few years.

The jury recognized all this, thus the verdict and large punitive amount.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Yep. Good verdict there. The guys deserves the paycheck for that.

[Swake]

Yep. Good verdict there. The guys deserves the paycheck for that.

To be clear, the ONE guy deserves the paycheck. Not the dude that actually said that crap.

[Pete]

This is incredibly bad and embarrassing.

Two recent front-page stories were things widely reported (and posted on OKCTalk) before they got around to just replicating info that had been out for days or weeks.


Sonic Building: Press release 2/8, posted on OKCTalk the same day. Oklahoman 2/12.

Tulsa King going to Georgia: Men's Health 2/5, posted on OKCTalk 2/6. Oklahoman 2/15.

[Midtowner]

I'm guessing the award will be either reversed on appeal or there will be a large reduction in the amount. The paper published a retraction in fairly short order. I think some damages might be appropriate, but I'm having a hard time seeing as to how the punishment here fits the crime.

I'm not sure what responsibility the Oklahoman would have for the internet outrage machine carrying on after a retraction was published.

[catcherinthewry]

This is incredibly bad and embarrassing.

Two recent front-page stories were things widely reported (and posted on OKCTalk) before they got around to just replicating info that had been out for days or weeks.


Sonic Building: Press release 2/8, posted on OKCTalk the same day. Oklahoman 2/12.

Tulsa King going to Georgia: Men's Health 2/5, posted on OKCTalk 2/6. Oklahoman 2/15.

Their motto should be: All the news that's fit to print.....two days later.

[Anonymous.]

$25MM to be mistakenly named/marked as a racist on the internet forever. I would say that is very fair. Honestly I would personally even take that trade, he won't have to work ever again with that kind of money and he is in his 50s.

Move to a beach somewhere with that early retirement gift.

[Pete]

Their motto should be: All the news that's fit to print.....two days later.

More like 4 to 10 days later.

[barrettd]

More like 4 to 10 days later.

Anyone that's still sending them money at this point must have literally zero other sources of information. There is no good reason to subscribe to the paper or website.

[king183]

I'm guessing the award will be either reversed on appeal or there will be a large reduction in the amount. The paper published a retraction in fairly short order. I think some damages might be appropriate, but I'm having a hard time seeing as to how the punishment here fits the crime.

I'm not sure what responsibility the Oklahoman would have for the internet outrage machine carrying on after a retraction was published.

They are responsible because they are the ones who spread false information on social media, which subsequently spread like wildfire with people quoting the Oklahoman’s inaccurate reporting, which was all done to drive clicks and outrage rather than serve any journalistic or public good. With what he put up with and the irreparable damage to his reputation, the damages are absolutely justified.

[Pete]

They are responsible because they are the ones who spread false information on social media, which subsequently spread like wildfire with people quoting the Oklahoman’s inaccurate reporting, which was all done to drive clicks and outrage rather than serve any journalistic or public good. With what he put up with and the irreparable damage to his reputation, the damages are absolutely justified.

I've been on the other side of the outrage machine and you simply can't imagine how bad things get and how quickly it happens.

It's easy to find phone #'s, email accounts, home addresses, employers, and relatives of almost anyone in Oklahoma, and that stuff gets shared very fast then it's not just a matter of posts on a website or social media account but legitimate concern for you physical well-being, your job, your family... And all that lasts a loooooong time.

This guy lost his job. He lived in fear for a long time and there are probably still versions of that video out there that identify him as the culprit. It's like standing atop a building and cutting open a pillow, then a few hours later trying to find every single feather.


I've hinted at things that have happened to me due to OKCTalk and will now share one such experience because I think enough time has passed. About 10-12 years ago, somebody got mad at me and decided to post to various sites my full name along with the declaration I had sexually abused children. Nice, huh?

I could not get those posts taken down. I tried everything. For quite a while if you Googled me you'd see this heinous claim.

I was still in California at that time and interviewing for a job (had gone in for a couple of rounds) and then the company suddenly ghosted me. I am very sure it was due to this, and not because they believed it was true, but that other people could use that against their business (they knew and still hired this guy so BOYCOTT!)

Some remnant of that ridiculous video is probably still out there. This is something that no doubt affected me in ways I don't know and never will know. Certainly for a period of time anyone I dated would have seen it if they had done a simple internet search.

I have several stories like this from over the years, including where my address was shared and people were DMing me "I know where you live and I'm going to beat you to death with a baseball bat". Most people simply can't imagine how crazy things often get.

[PhiAlpha]

I've been on the other side of the outrage machine and you simply can't imagine how bad things get and how quickly it happens.

It's easy to find phone #'s, email accounts, home addresses, employers, and relatives of almost anyone in Oklahoma, and that stuff gets shared very fast then it's not just a matter of posts on a website or social media account but legitimate concern for you physical well-being, your job, your family... And all that lasts a loooooong time.

This guy lost his job. He lived in fear for a long time and there are still probably versions of that video out there that identify him as the culprit. It's like standing atop a building and cutting open a pillow, then a few hours later trying to find every single feather.


I've hinted at things that have happened to me due to OKCTalk and will now share one such experience because I think enough time has passed. About 10-12 years ago, somebody got mad at me and decided to post to various sites my full name along with the declaration I had sexually abused children. Nice, huh?

I could not get those posts taken down. I tried everything. For quite a while if you Googled me you'd see this heinous claim.

I was still in California at that time and interviewing for a job (had gone in for a couple of rounds) and then the company suddenly ghosted me. I am very sure it was due to this.

Some remnant of that ridiculous video is probably still out there. This is something that no doubt affected me in ways I don't know and never will know. Certainly for a period of time anyone I dated would have seen it if they had done a simple internet search.

I have several stories like this from over the years, including where my address was shared and people were DMing me "I know where you live and I'm going to beat you to death with a baseball bat". Most people simply can't imagine how crazy things often get.

Not to anywhere near this extent but I’ve been on the receiving end of completely false allegations that at minimum took a ton of time and a decent amount of money to clean up. All because someone was irrationally upset. The person who was easily proven to have been lying got off without any consequences or having to spend a dime. I know it affected my dating life and very easily could’ve affected my business if it had gone on longer.

People and media organizations that make baseless allegations like these should be held financially AND criminally accountable for things like this. I know that will never happen as they always use the excuse that it might have a “chilling effect” on the reporting of actual wrong doing but the ease with which accusations are believed and reported as fact without any the requirement of anything to back them up (and in some cases, treated as such in the justice system) is a massive problem in the media, social media, and the justice system. Then of course, even if the allegations are proven false, you’re found innocent, etc…no one cares about the retraction. The original story and outrage is all anyone who doesn’t know you remembers (easy example…the only reason I even knew the story above had been retracted and the guy won the case against the newspaper is because it was posted here and I just happened to read it).

Sorry you had to deal with that…completely ridiculous.

[Pete]

The thing is with this Oklahoman coverage, they absolutely 100% knew that they were going to ruin the life of the person they named. It was the salatious nature of the story that drew their hurried coverage in the first place.

They are a media company after all and know better than just about anyone how crazy things can get.


I've been through this with local TV stations that not only directly lift my stories, but often take my photos which are all under copywrite. I discovered one of them had been doing it for 2-3 years. When pressed, they tried to blame it on one naive new hire and of course that was complete rubbish. In the end, once caught they knew they had to stop, so I elected to move on and not put my time, energy and money into suing them. But I WANTED to sue them so badly so they would be held accountable and there is a part of me that still feels this way.

[PhiAlpha]

Until the value of getting clicks stops superseding the value of doing actual journalism...some (maybe most) traditional/legacy media will be increasingly difficult to distinguish from the tabloids. Ratings have always matter but it definitely seems like the need to compete directly with social media sources has exacerbated the issue (which is probably stating the obvious given how many newspapers have shut down or been acquired over the last 15-20 years) and few care to hold people accountable when they're wrong.

[Pete]

^

Those who choose to work for the Oklahoman (and collect a paycheck from them) have an ever-shifting, ever-growing list of excuses:

1) We had to yield to the heavy hand of the Gaylords, but of course, we never agreed with them
2) Even after the Gaylords, the editors constrained us
3) The last editor was the one that held us down; NOW you'll see something different
4) Repeat #3 over and over and over
5) Our last owner was the one that held us down: NOW you'll see something different
6) Repeat #5 over and over and over
-- and now, the most common mantra --
7) Our newsroom is so tiny we don't have time to do real journalism, no matter that as recently as a few years ago we had many more reporters and the results weren't any different

[ditm4567]

I believe the "smoking gun" was the Microsoft Teams messages amongst Cameron Jourdan and others, wherein they knew they published the wrong name yet still didn't retract for quite some time--"but my source said...". The actual commentator had already owned up to it and they had yet to correct their reporting.

[Midtowner]

I believe the "smoking gun" was the Microsoft Teams messages amongst Cameron Jourdan and others, wherein they knew they published the wrong name yet still didn't retract for quite some time--"but my source said...". The actual commentator had already owned up to it and they had yet to correct their reporting.

Well their newsroom is so tiny, they don't have the tiem or staff to do real retractions.

[Pete]

Well their newsroom is so tiny, they don't have the tiem or staff to do real retractions.

Which implies when it was huge that they did all types of quality investigative journalism, which of course they've never done.

[Midtowner]

Which implies when it was huge that they did all types of quality investigative journalism, which of course they've never done.

TBF, that was never the Oklahoman's purpose. In its glory days, it was only ever a cheerleader for the Chamber of Commerce of OKC and a mouthpiece of the elite.

Over the years, we've had a few TV news folks do some good investigative journalism, but outside the 'in your corner' stuff, where they go after random tiny unscrupulous contracters, I honestly can't remember any TV news reporter doing any critical reporting about the old money typse since Vince Orza going after the Oklahoma Industry Authority back in the late 70s.

[FighttheGoodFight]

We are pretty close to just using AI to summarize press releases, post it on social media in an engaging way, then have fake AI comments posted to drive engagement. Then when Sora comes out it will create a video of the content to have a media post.