J110 1ST Edition Lecture 17Outline of Last LectureI. Libel (cont.)II. Defenses against LibelOutline of Current LectureI. New York Times v. SullivanII. Actual MaliceIII. Courtroom PublicityIV. PrivacyV. Honesty & the pressVI. ObscenityNew York Times v. Sullivan- Full page ad to raise money for MLK Jr.- Contained inaccuracies- Montgomery, AL police commissioner, L.B. Sullivan, sues the Times for Libel- Sullivan said it was indirectly talking about him- Was there actual malice? – did they want to destroy him?- No – Established the actual malice standard for LibelActual Malice- Reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of a published accountCourtroom Publicity- Sheppard v. Maxwell- Sam Sheppard accused of beating wife to death- Publicity of case was extreme and against Sheppard- Sued for mistrial- Said that publicity swayed the vote of the jury- Set rules for keeping publicity out of court casesPrivacy- Not explicitly in constitutiono “Freedom to associate” clauseo 4th Amendment prevents government from requiring a group to release membership list to publico 14th Amendment limits disclosure of personal information- Balancing Acto Freedom of Speech vs Privacy Rights- Intrusiono Physical trespass into someone else’s space- Embarrassmento So embarrassing/private that a person has reason to expect that it will NOT be published- False Lighto Untrue statements that alter an individual’s public imageo Actual Malice NOT necessary- Misappropriationo Using a person’s name or image for commercial purposes without their permissionHonesty & the press- Food Lion v. ABC- Prior Restrainto The Pentagon Paperso Judicial suppression of material that would be published or broadcast, on the grounds that it is libelous or harmful- Reporter Privilegeo Protect reporters from having to give up their sources in courto Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)o 5-4 vote against journalistso Court said journalists have same duty as other citizens to appear in court when calledo Shield Law: would help, not all states have them, no federal Shield Law existso Indiana Shield Law approved 1941Obscenity- Roth v. United States- Roth ran business selling sexually explicit content through federal postage
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