Opinion ID: 2088740
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: was the published material of rumors protected by either the doctrine of fair report or the doctrine of neutral reportage?

Text: We would be remiss at this point if we did not fully dispose of an argument that is advanced by defendants in this case and which has been asserted elsewhere in situations similar to that in the instant case. What is argued is that there are at least some instances in which a newspaper should not be barred from reporting the existence of defamatory statements, including rumors, if only for the fact that the making of such statements is newsworthy in itself. This argument undoubtedly derives its basis from the common-law privilege of fair report and the more recent doctrine of neutral reportage as suggested in Edwards v. National Audubon Society, Inc., 556 F.2d 113, 120 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom., Edwards v. New York Times Co., 434 U.S. 1002, 98 S.Ct. 647, 54 L.Ed.2d 498 (1977). The common-law privilege of fair report protects the publication of fair and accurate reports of public meetings and judicial proceedings, even when an individual is defamed during the proceeding or action. [2] This privilege does not abrogate the policy of protecting one's reputation but rather subordinates this value to the countervailing public interest in the availability of information about official proceedings and public meetings. Because the public or social interest being accommodated is the public's interest in receiving information from public meetings and official proceedings, the privilege is unaffected by the republisher's knowledge of the falsity of the statement reported. Comment, Edwards v. National Audubon Society, Inc.: A Constitutional Privilege to Republish Defamation Should Be Rejected, 33 Hastings L.J. 1203, 1206 (1981-82). The defendants argue by analogy that the underlying concept of fair report should similarly protect republishing a rumor already in existence, even in the face of knowledge of its falsity. We are of the opinion, however, that there is little merit to this argument, especially in light of the contours of this case. [3] It is important to observe that the fair-report privilege accommodates the important societal interest in facilitating dissemination of information about judicial and governmental proceedings at which identified and identifiable persons may participate in resolving disputes and advancing the progress of government. In a judicial proceeding if one is defamed through cross-examination, opportunity exists for the one defamed to respond to rebut the defamation. With public meetings those susceptible of defamation may attend such gatherings and defend against attacks. Comment, 33 Hastings L.J. at 1211 n. 47. We find no similar countervailing policy to protect repetition of rumors. The spreading of rumors does not give the person defamed by them the opportunity to rebut the underlying allegations of the rumor. To attempt to defend against a rumor is not unlike attempting to joust with a cloud. Publication of a rumor further fuels the continued repetition and does so in an especially egregious way by enshrining it in print. See Metcalf, 20 R.I. at 678, 40 A. at 865 (for analysis limiting doctrine of reporting of judicial proceedings). Thus there is little room to deny that the opportunity for abuse of the reporting of the existence of a defamatory rumor is great, [4] and as a result a number of courts (and today we join them) have denied the right to report the existence of rumors when the underlying accusation of the rumor is believed to be false. See, e.g., Cianci, 639 F.2d at 60-61 (publisher incurs liability under actual-malice standard if he knew of falsity, regardless of attribution); Dickey v. CBS, Inc., 583 F.2d 1221, 1226 (3d Cir.1978) (rejecting argument that false statements by a third party which have been published by the press, are entitled to a unique constitutional analysis); Goldwater v. Ginzburg, 414 F.2d 324, 337 (2d Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1049, 90 S.Ct. 701, 24 L.Ed.2d 695 (1970) (citing St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 732, 88 S.Ct. 1323, 1326, 20 L.Ed.2d 262, 267-68 (1968)) (repetition of another's words does not release one from responsibility if repeater knows that words are false or inherently improbable or if there are obvious reasons to doubt veracity of person quoted or accuracy of his reports); Catalano v. Pechous, 83 Ill.2d 146, 168, 50 Ill.Dec. 242, 264, 419 N.E.2d 350, 361 (1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 911, 101 S.Ct. 1981, 68 L.Ed.2d 300 (1981). See generally Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Association, Inc. v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 23, 90 S.Ct. 1537, 1546, 26 L.Ed.2d 6, 19-20 (1970) (White, J., concurring). But see Medina v. Time, Inc., 439 F.2d 1129, 1130 (1st Cir.1971). From a slightly different point of view, defendants argue that a rule precluding reportage of a third person's defamatory remarks would act as a perpetual bar to ever reporting that a third person has made such remarks or that defamatory rumors were circulating in a community. A case that arguably would allow such reportage is Edwards, supra, in which a defamation suit arose in the aftermath of a raging controversy between the proponents of the pesticide DDT and the National Audubon Society. The society claimed that the proponents had misinterpreted data relevant to the controversy and accused as paid liars certain scientists who used such data to aid the pesticide proponents' cause. A reporter for the New York Times accurately reprinted the accusations, the names of the scientists, and their outraged denials. See Case Comment, Restricting the First Amendment Right to Republish Defamatory Statements, 69 Geo.L.J. 1495, 1498 (1981). In the ensuing litigation that reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Chief Judge Kaufman, writing for the court, held that when a responsible, prominent organization like the National Audubon Society makes serious charges against a public figure, the First Amendment protects the accurate and disinterested reporting of those charges, regardless of the reporter's private views regarding their validity. Edwards, 556 F.2d at 120. Reasoning that [w]hat is newsworthy about such accusations is that they were made, id., the court concluded that the reporter should not have been required to suppress the story merely because he may have had serious doubts concerning the truth of the charge. We are constrained to conclude, however, that there is a remarkably wide gulf between Edwards and the case at bar. In Edwards the court emphasized the existence of a prominent responsible organization originating the charges. This itself has been argued to have been newsworthy. With rumors, however, any such characteristics are wholly absent. A rumor by definition is anonymously spawned, and those who give it currency, if their identity can be ascertained, certainly do not take any responsibility for its truth. See supra note 1. In Cianci, 639 F.2d at 69-70, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit noted that: The need for the careful limitation of a constitutional privilege for fair reportage is demonstrated by the breadth of that defense, which confers immunity even for publishing statements believed to be untrue. Absent the qualifications set forth by Chief Judge Kaufman in Edwards, all elements of the media would have absolute immunity to espouse and concur in the most unwarranted attacks, at least upon any public official or figure    by persons known to be of scant reliability. We believe that this portion quoted from Cianci supports a rule that republication of false defamatory statements about an individual may be printed only in the extremely limited situation in which the publication accurately attributes such statements to an identified and responsible source. Assuming, without deciding, that Edwards as limited by Cianci is a correct statement of this aspect of the law of libel, [5] we find this principle to be wholly inapplicable to rumors since a responsible source is lacking. Moreover, we discern no public policy which would be served by immunizing the reporting of false or baseless rumors. The need to report judicial and governmental proceedings is not paralleled by any discernible advantage to be secured to the public by the reporting of rumors. Consequently, publication of such rumors makes the publisher responsible under the actual malice test of New York Times for ascertaining the truth of the underlying defamatory material in such circumstances.