By now it’s old news that The Tulsa World is suing The Urban Tulsa Weekly, its publisher, and Tulsa blog-father and UTW columnist, Michael Bates. I’ve met Michael, and Michael’s been a repeat guest on the WynnCast. Heck, I even tease my wife about having a Bates crush sometimes because she loves his work so much.

Whatever one may think about Michael’s ideology, you have to admit that he is genius-level smart, a great researcher, and thorough in presenting the bases for arriving at the opinions he holds. In the interest of full disclosure, I will state that I personally agree with Michael about 99.99% of the time (as to where we differ, I’m not sure he’s a full-on Fair Tax supporter yet, and he seems dedicated to Moveable Type when we all know WordPress is the far superior blog framework). That said, he would have my support even if we didn’t agree (yes, I have liberal friends, too). And here’s why:

In my experience—and I have been threatened with libel/slander suits in roundabout ways—the threat of libel/slander is typically not about responding to actual harm resulting from a malicious lie someone has publicly spoken and/or published. It is typically an effort at intimidation rooted in the fact that someone is afraid that you have told a truth about them that they would rather not have known. It remains the truth, nonetheless. And, as my competent legal adviser is wont to remind me: the truth is an absolute defense against a charge of libel/slander.

Now, as to the nature of this case, it is laughable that The Tulsa World—which I assume buys ink by the barrel—feels the need to file a lawsuit against UTW and Bates when it has ample opportunity to print evidence to counter Bates’ claims, call him a liar (and prove it if they can) and lambaste him daily on its pages from here to eternity if the Tulsa World management so desires.

More and more, people (and now publications, it seems) that have thrust themselves into the public realm expect never to be challenged and work diligently (including threatening and cajoling) to stifle any and all dissent.

The trick to dealing with bullies is to stand up to them. Make them make good on their threats. Make them walk into court and make their claims. Make them subject themselves to discovery. Make them seat a jury of twelve average Tulsans who will listen to them claim that an independent weekly and a blogger hurt their business. Corporate bullies thrive on their ability to out-lawyer you (even though some have to let staff go due to economic hard times) to scare you into being quiet and to quit rocking the boat. Call their bluff…and counter sue.

Being the stand-up guy he is, Michael posted that he would have welcomed some contact from the World so he could have made a correction—if anything was indeed wrong:

If WPC [World Publishing Company] believes I’ve written something in error, I’m disappointed that the company would file a suit against me without first contacting me with evidence to contradict what I wrote and giving me the opportunity to issue a clarification or correction.

And let’s deal with the real nub of the issue. Michael wouldn’t have near the influence that he does in T-Town if the daily paper hadn’t long ago all but abandoned any semblance of objectivity in its reporting. When you offend the politics of half the people in a conservative town, it’s a real trick to blame the resultant drop in circulation (and I am not saying there is one, for you Tulsa World attorneys out there) on the independent weekly paper.

It used to be said that a little debate on the editorial page was good at selling papers. I can’t be the only one to think the biggest step the World could have taken toward courting the many it has alienated would be to hire Bates away from the UTW (if he is even paid) and class up their editorial page with a broader spectrum of experience, insight, and opinion. When influence, power, and business trump reporting and make your opinion pages reliably one-sided, you’re not a reliable news paper anymore.

Has anyone ever wondered why blogs are so numerous and popular? It’s because among their many uses is the ability to post news, information, and opinion without the overhead of massive news machines. Sometimes it’s just possible that the news has a better chance flowing through folks who don’t depend on their medium for an income. When I post things on the WynnBlog the advertisers don’t like, I have zero pressure to modify or finesse my content—because I have no advertisers.

All I know is that I doubt there is any fault in Michael Bates, I encourage him to fight, and I will do all I can to help him stand up to the bully. I was bullied in grade school and it made my life miserable. Until one day I hit back. That day in fifth grade, my life changed forevermore. Bullies are cowards at heart, and everyone’s heart shows when the chips are down.

If we have to have an Oklahoma bloggers’ bake sale to provide Michael’s defense, I’ll make the first and last batches of cookies.