The Kansas City Star reported on three mayoral candidates in March, but one of them, Clay Chastain, sued over the article, claiming he thought it was harming his chances for election. The article, published March 25, was headlined, “Henry Klein, Vincent Lee and Clay Chastain keep running for mayor, for different reasons.”
The column in question reported that Chastain had once been on a City Hall watch list for “perceived threats against Mayor Sly James,” which he disputed. The Star quoted the city manager as saying Chastain was on the list “because he was heard making threats, or what sounded like threats.”
Chastain’s lawsuit was dismissed back in July, but again in October — this time “with prejudice,” the Kansas City Star reported.
“U.S. District Court Judge Greg Kays ruled Chastain had failed to establish any of the statements as false and noted Chastain acknowledged some of the statements in the very court filing where he claimed they weren’t true,” the Kansas City Star reported in its own July first article on the lawsuit dismissal.
iMediaEthics has written to the Star and Chastain.