Frank Carlson is said to be a freelance reporter for the Miama Herald, though what that means is open to interpretation, as he appears to have written quite a few racing stories for the paper. Based on the portion of the press conf aired on TVG, Carlson's 1st step, a curious one which has received very little attention, was to send the now infamous photo to the CD stewards on Thurs. Fri am he talked to steward Rich Leigh, who was quoted in Carlson's article as saying the photo looked suspicious. When they finally got around to asking Leigh if he made that comment, he admitted that he had but, acting as if he was a victim, said he also commented that an investigation of the photo was called for, & Carlson did not include those comments in his story. It was readily apparent that Leigh did not understand that it is highly inappropriate for someone who will be judging all of the evidence to comment on what one item may or may not show prior to any hearing. By the look on his face, Mr Meeker does understand this, & look for Leigh to lose his job in a few weeks.

After talking to Leigh, Carlson called Santos & left a message, & Santos called him back Fri night. According to Santos, Carlson asked him if he had anything other than the whip in his hand, which led to the "cue ring" exchange. Put yourself in Carlson's shoes in this conversation. You're thinking of accusing someone with a clean record & history of a serious crime of dishonesty, & for language reasons cannot entirely understand what Santos is saying. Even if you make the absurd assumption that it would be difficult to find a Spanish-speaking journalist at a Miama paper, & even if Carlson himself doesn't know someone who speaks Spanish, is it conceivable that a decent & honorable person would go ahead & make the accusation if he or she was not certain of what Santos said? And even if you thought you heard "cue ring", wouldn't it occur to you that there might have been a misunderstanding when everyone else you check with later indicates that there is no such thing? In addition, Carlson did not send Santos the photo he was asking him about, & was apparently too lazy to check any of the other photos or the video before making the accusation in his column.

The reason as I interpret things is because Carlson seems to have already made up his mind before he called. Santos said today that Carlson accused him in the phone call, at which pt Santos said he didn't have time for such nonsense & hung up. As you have no doubt read, Carlson is "standing by his story", which in case means not that what he wrote bears any relationship to the truth, but that what he wrote about the cue ring was what he understood Santos to say.

Notwithstanding Gary Steven's view on the matter, there is very little that a public figure such as Santos can do in these circumstances. Remember the Paul Newman film Absence of Malice? The malice referred to is not the ill will or desire to harm another of everyday speech, but what a public figure like Santos must prove in order to have a libel claim against Carlson & the Miama Herald, namely knowledge that what was printed was false, or reckless disregard of its truth or falsity. It is, to put it very mildly, an extraordinarily high burden to overcome. And even if it could be overcome, actual damages would not amount to much, as it would be difficult to find anyone who knows Santos or the game who believed Carlson in a way that seriously harmed Santos' reputation.

There is another interesting aspect to libel, one which allows me in this post to write, without fear of retribution, that in terms of being a journalist, this story shows that Frank Carlson is an incompetent idiot. The reason, you see, is that truth is an absolute defense to any claim of libel by Carlson against yours truly.