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Thank you everyone for your kind words about yesterday’s court victory. But a few notes:
Free speech is not free. The legal cost to defend attacks from highly funded antagonists is daunting.
If you write at all (including social media), get 1st amendment insurance.
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Free speech is not free. The legal cost to defend attacks from highly funded antagonists is daunting.
If you write at all (including social media), get 1st amendment insurance.
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These types of suits send chills through the writing community ( https://www.winecurmudgeon.com/penrose-hill-v-mabray-did-wine-journalism-win-a-significant-legal-victory/). 2/
From the article, “If Penrose Hill won, would I have to remove the post? Would I be liable for damages as well? Would I still be able to write posts like this about wine clubs? Or this, about Blue Apron wine?” @wine_curmudgeon 3/
Another example: long time & respected blogger, @tomcwark, had an appropriately scathing blog that was stricken soon after the suit was filed. https://fermentationwineblog.com/2019/04/firstleaf-and-the-first-rule-of-wine-marketing-tell-the-truth/ 4/
Our industry has been and IS being ravaged by bad actors who present ways they “cut out the middleman”, “get exclusive juice from a producer/vineyard who can’t be named”, “they are selling wine for the ‘proper’ $“, “clean wine” and more.
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But this month’s “Clean Wine Reckoning” was an apex moment & so many great journalists/writers ( @FelicityCarter @Esther_mobley @ericaduecy @dmwine @joefattorini @robertjoseph @vinography @plsthepalate & more) rose to the occasion & challenged the falsehoods & unveiled truth. 6/
We need more of this. More transparency, stronger language against bad actors. We need less pay to play or puff pieces by Business Insider, Mashable, Forbes, CNET, F&W, and more. We need more quotes from experts & less from charlatans.
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We need journalism not only extol the virtues of winemakers & wine but also the warts, the character flaws, & especially specious claims like “clean wine.” Consumers need real facts, not alt-facts to understand their choices. Wineries need to know which companies to trust.
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Gaming SEO, the low cost of entry for content publishing, and algorithmic choice has distorted reality but one of the key defenses is good journalism. If you don’t believe me google “best wine club.” You’ll see parallels to this article: https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-bloggers-lawsuits-underside-of-the-mattress-wars 9/
Too many of us focus on the virtues natural wine, fighting “big wine”, gentlemen farmer stories when we face so many existential threats (internal and external).
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We need more from those great writers above and others. Real numbers not biased data sets informing us of theoretical data trends. Is low/no alc a real threat? Are millennials really abandoning wine? What’s the carbon cost of oenotourism? Etc. These answers make us better. 11/
The press is currently under attack but IMHO its also having a reckoning against the struggle to successfully monetize the Internet (vs. years of abusive click bait for traffic vs news). But true journalism is more important than ever. 12/
The press is a necessary institution not only for democracy, but for the health of industries. Ours especially.
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