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VOLUME TWENTY-TWO, NUMBER 2 -- 2002TABLE OF CONTENTS SYMPOSIUM: TUNE IN, TURN ON, COP OUT? THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY A HYPOTHETICAL: POTENTIAL LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE DISSEMINATION OF VIOLENT MUSIC A PANEL DISCUSSION: POTENTIAL LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE DISSEMINATION OF VIOLENT MUSIC THE ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION: A NEWSGATHERING AND PRIVACY HYPOTHETICAL THE ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION: A NEWSGATHERING AND PRIVACY PANEL DISCUSSION ARTICLES A PYRRHIC PRESS VICTORY: WHY HOLDING RICHARD JEWELL IS A PUBLIC FIGURE IS WRONG AND HARMS JOURNALISM In October 2001, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that Richard Jewell, the one-time suspect in the 1996 bombing in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, was a public figure for purposes of his libel suit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While journalistic organizations celebrated the court's classification of Jewell, which now requires him to prove the heightened standard of actual malice to recover any damages, this Article argues that such jubilation is misguided because the long-term effect of the ruling may be the unwillingness of sources to speak to the news media for fear of losing their private-figure status. The authors conclude that courts should carve out a “Good Samaritan Source” rule protecting private citizens who are sought out by the media to comment on events they have witnessed. In the last two decades network television newsmagazines in an endless search for ratings, which translates into revenues, have declared war on the right of privacy we all enjoy as Americans. The hidden camera is “infotainment” masquerading as journalism, pandering to the most base emotions, including voyeurism, with eavesdropping used to obtain the salacious footage. A hidden camera story is essentially a “grainy little morality play,” edited to heighten the entertainment value, where journalists go undercover to mythologize their work by becoming protagonists, modern “folk heroes” who ferret out wrongdoing as the superheroes of pop culture. Undoubtedly, the most insidious and frightening intrusion cases involve an expectation of privacy, with spies working in conjunction with an enemy or competitor of the victim to set up the fraud. In addition to intrusion and/or statutory privacy claims (or in the case of business entities, non-privacy claims), this Article contends that hidden cameras portray individuals in both a defamatory manner and in a false light—by definition and by design. Constitutional malice should therefore be easy to prove in hidden camera cases—indeed, it should be presumed. THE RIGHT TO SOLITUDE IN THE UNITED STATES AND SINGAPORE: A CALL FOR A FUNDAMENTAL REORDERING The tort of intrusion will face two major challenges in the new millennium. First, it must protect the individual from unreasonable intrusions upon his solitude without unnecessarily curbing journalistic endeavor. Secondly, the tort of intrusion must begin to recognize the fact that the individual does have a legitimate expectation of privacy in public places. This Article will examine these issues from the perspective of both the United States and Singapore. It will first outline the social and legal culture influencing the shape of privacy law in the two countries. It will then examine the extent to which journalists should enjoy a qualified privilege to intrude upon an individual's solitude for the purpose of investigative journalism. Lastly, it argues that the courts should adopt a multi-factored approach to determine the boundaries of acceptable journalistic behavior in public places. ESSAY FROM HIT MAN TO ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JIHAD: HOW TO DISTINGUISH FREEDOM OF SPEECH FROM TERRORIST TRAINING One of the lawyers who successfully argued that the First Amendment did not protect publishers of the book Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors from tort liability for aiding and abetting violence now addresses the similarities in purpose, content, and tone between Hit Man and the newly released Encyclopedia of Jihad, sometimes known as the Al-Qaeda Terrorist Manual. Recognizing that the two publications share the same lethal combination of technical training plus psychological preparation, the author suggests that the Hit Man case may establish the viability of claims against terrorists who disseminate the Encyclopedia of Jihad. NOTES & COMMENTS Imagine a computer user logging onto the Internet using his cable Internet service provider. When he recently subscribed to the service, he accepted the provider’s privacy statement by clicking on “I accept” with his mouse. What he does not know is that the government now has access to his confidential information without his consent or notice. Such information includes the scope of his Internet use, the duration of his use, his social security number, his credit card and bank account number, and other identifying information. With the recent enactment of the USA Patriot Act, privacy protections afforded to cable Internet users have substantially decreased. The current state of law in this area needs reexamination and reform, such as establishing greater privacy protections for Internet users’ personal information. INTERNET GAMBLING: NEVADA LOGS IN More than thirty years ago, Congress created a commission to examine gambling activity in the United States, which found that gambling is “inevitable.” Although the American public would not realize the potential of the Internet for at least another twenty years, those findings could very well have applied to Internet gambling. In 2001, Nevada lawmakers voted to give the Nevada Gaming Commission the authority to develop rules for casino operators to launch and maintain online gaming establishments within the state. This legislation provides established casinos a fighting chance to participate in online gambling ventures. The federal government should give Nevada an opportunity to create a safe and legal environment for Americans who wish to try their luck online, setting parameters for online casinos instead of instituting an outright ban. |
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