Legal News

Lawyer Says He Made His Point, Drops Suit Against Newspaper

By Dan Slater

Say it ain’t so, Keith!

According to the Raleigh News & Observer itself, Keith Hempstead — national hero, champion of journalists and a former Law Blog lawyer of the day — has dropped his lawsuit against the paper. Last month Hempstead filed the suit pro se, claiming that he renewed his subscription in May, just before the paper announced it was cutting 70 personnel and slashing its news pages.

Hempstead, a 42 year-old Durham lawyer, told the N&O that his point had been made after stories of his complaint traveled around the Web.

“By getting rid of staff, you’re producing an inferior product that is dooming the newspaper industry into obsolescence,” said Hempstead (UNC, North Carolina Central Law). “Attempts to fill the news hole with syndicated columnists, wire stories and cheap filler instead of writing from local staff makes the paper like any other news source. It doesn’t have a distinctive voice, and readers can go anywhere else to get their news fix.”

As for those who said his lawsuit was frivolous, Hempstead said: “By arguing there’s nothing to such a complaint, then they are accepting of a future of mediocre news.”

N&O Publisher and Law Blog all-name team member Orage Quarles III said: “I’m just glad it’s over, and we can move forward.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).