Are documentaries allowed to accuse real people of murder?

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ironpony
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31 Oct 2018, 10:03 pm

I was watching the documentary series is O.J. Innocent: The Missing Evidence, and...

SPOILER


The show determined that it was Jason Simpson who committed the murders. But since Jason was never even charged for the crimes, I was wondering if a show or movie or documentary is allowed to do that. Are they allowed to take a real life person, who is not proven guilty at all, and say you're the murder of these real people.

Wouldn't that person be legally entitled to sue big time for slander like that, and isn't there a good chance they will win, since it's technically slander?



Fnord
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01 Nov 2018, 8:38 am

Under the "Freedom of the Press and Speech", they can.

Proving it in court is another matter.



arielhawksquill
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01 Nov 2018, 4:14 pm

Jason Simpson can sue for slander, but there is no law constraining speech before it is published. There is a whole sub-genre of true crime that attempts to solve unsolved murders, and which names probable perpetrators (rightly or wrongly.)



ironpony
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01 Nov 2018, 5:18 pm

When you say there is no law constraining speech before it is published though, this TV show was already made, so it is therefore published right? Does that mean their is a law that should have constrained them from publishing then?