By Greg Hazley
Wendy Gordon, who runs Flash PR in Washington, D.C., has sued Mediabistro news and gossip blog FisbowlDC for libel, alleging it intentionally set out to portray her as "self-promoting, attention-seeking, loose party girl/cougar" at the expense of her reputation and business.
Gordon, former corporate director of food and beverage PR for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., filed the civil action in D.C. superior court on Jan. 17 against the blog, Mediabistro, parent WebMediaBrands, and writers Peter Ogburn and Betsy Rothstein, charging defamation and false light invasion of privacy.
She seeks at least $2M in punitive and compensatory damages.
She alleges an "unprovoked, online smear campaign" by the blog, alleging publication of "false, defamatory, malicious, nasty, and tasteless statements" which harmed the PR pro's reputation, business and "overall well-being," according to the suit (PDF).
Fishbowl did remove some of the content after a complaint by Gordon's lawyer last October, but the suit says not all of the pieces were removed and the blog declined to retract the series or apologize. "While we cannot comment on the specifics of pending litigation, we do not believe that there is any merit to the claims and plan to defend against them vigorously," WebMediaBrands EVP and general counsel Mitchell Eisenberg told Legal Times, which first reported the suit.
The blog published one of her letters to the site in November.
The complaint stems in part from a weekly series by the blog called "Wendy Wednesday," which featured photos Gordon posted to her Facebook page. Gordon claims the site never contacted her for copyright consent or comment.
One Fishbowl DC post cited in the complaint reads: "It's our weekly look at D.C. publicist Wendy Gordon and the insane pictures that she posts of herself on the Internet. Today, we have a classy Wendy at a party. That is, if your definition of classy is wearing a low cut a dress that allows your boobs to to spill out …" The post later suggested she was looking for sex.
Gordon, who says she is a PR professional and not a public figure, claims the blog continued the alleged attacks despite requests from her and others to stop and rebuffed a demand for a retraction, "despite their knowledge that what they had written about her was completely false."
Gordon says she lost business opportunities because of the coverage. |