John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.

In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.

Boeing said it was saddened to hear of Mr Barnett's passing. The Charleston County coroner confirmed his death to the BBC on Monday.

It said the 62-year-old had died from a "self-inflicted" wound on 9 March and police were investigating.

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[–] 101 points 2 years ago (16 children)

Why don't news organizations address the elephant in the room? They can say there is no evidence of foul play but the circumstances warrant further investigation as his death is quite convenient for Bowing. I don't see how that could be libelous.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    They can be sued if they claim Boeing executives murdered a guy unless there are court records showing Boeing executives were convicted for murdering a guy. However, I guarantee you people like Trevor Noah and John Oliver will absolutely run with this bit if they get the chance.

    "WhY iSN't ThE MEdiA CoVEriNG tHe NeWs" people scream in the comments of a news feed that alerted them to this exact issue.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's simply not true. Defamation/libel against a public company requires "actual malice", which essentially means that the news outlet would have to have evidence that what they're saying is not true.

    Fox was going to lose to Dominion because they 100% knew they were lying about the company, and there were records proving it. It's not actually common at all for cases regarding defamation against public figures or corporations to go anywhere.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    did you even read the comment you're responding to?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Not only did I read it but I answered the question.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    You absolutely did not. The question was not: "Why don't news organizations claim Boeing execs murdered a guy...?" The commenter was clearly aware of the problem of libel, which you completely ignored. They asked why news orgs aren't discussing the fact that the death comes at a suspiciously convenient time - because they aren't. This is not the same as claiming that he was murdered by Boeing.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    He claimed it shouldn't be libelous and I explained that it would be libelous. You're implying that journalists are somehow dancing around the issue, which is silly because we're all pretty well informed that the whistleblower was probably murdered.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    it's not libelous to discuss the elephant in the room. you did not explain anything. you just disregarded the question with your assumption.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    If you say a person or entity with a public image did something really bad that they haven't been strictly proven to have done, with exceptions for things such as parody, then that is defamation. So, yes, it can be libelous to talk about the fucking elephant.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (4 children)

    wowdaft. it couldn't be more clear that the suggestion is discussing the suspicious nature WITHOUT making direct accusations.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    Welcome back, bud, we missed you.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    heh, the subtle suggestion that one shouldn't have a life away from here is embarrassing.

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