Opinion ID: 3029627
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Prong: Broad Context

Text: Under Underwager, the court first looks at the broad context in which the statement appears: “the general tenor of the work, the subject of the statements, the setting, and the format of the work.” Underwager, 69 F.3d at 366. The “broad context” here is correctly stated: the website on which the photo and caption at issue appear, EXPN.com, and the specific photo gallery (termed the “Green Carpet Gallery”) with the caption “EXPN style.” See Majority Op. at III.B.2. Here, the Majority concludes that when viewed in the broad context of the website on which the photo and caption at issue appear, the statement is not reasonably susceptible of defamatory meaning. See Majority Op. at III.B.2. To determine whether a statement is defamatory, courts should first look at the publication in which the statement appears. For example, in Falwell v. Flynt, 805 F.2d 484, 484 (4th Cir. 1986), minister Jerry Falwell sued Larry Flynt, proprietor of Hustler Magazine, for libel, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress as a result of the magazine’s running an advertisement depicting Falwell having sex with his mother in an outhouse. At the close of the evidence, the court dismissed plaintiff’s claim for invasion of privacy. The jury rendered a verdict for the defendants on the libel claim, on the ground that “no reasonable man would believe that the parody was describing actual facts about Falwell.” Falwell, 797 F.2d 1270, 1273 (4th Cir. 1986), overruled on other grounds, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 KNIEVEL v. ESPN 53 U.S. 46 (1988). There were several grounds upon which the jury could have so concluded. For example: (1) the ad appeared in a satirical pornographic magazine; (2) the ad was inherently unbelievable insofar as Falwell was a religious minister; and (3) at the bottom of the page is a disclaimer which states: “Ad parody — not to be taken seriously” and the parody is listed in the table of contents as “Fiction; Ad and Personality Parody.” Id. at 1272 (emphasis added). Unlike the ad parody published in Hustler magazine in the Falwell case, here the EXPN website is not an overtly nonfactual, satirical publication,4 nor does ESPN contend that it is. Here, there was nothing to suggest satire. ESPN was not holding up the “vices” of anyone to “ridicule or contempt,” the function of satire. Second, it is not inherently unbelievable that a daredevil attract, and perhaps exploit, women. Last, there has not been a semblance of a disclaimer, then or now. Second, in analyzing the broad context in which the photo and caption appear, the Majority’s analysis of the “broad context” was erroneously narrowed by its acceptance of defendant’s argument that to determine “broad context” all that matters is to whom the publication is targeted. The district court erroneously concluded that: [the] language used [in the caption] make[s] it obvious that the target audience is teenagers and young adults who are likely to use many of the terms on the website in everyday conversation” and “[t]he website was directed at a younger audience.5 4 See also Dworkin v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 867 F.2d 1188, 1193 (9th Cir. 1989) (“the appearance of the language in a magazine known for its pornographic content robs the statements of defamatory meaning”) (internal citations omitted). 5 There is no evidence in the record to support the district court’s conclusion that the targeted audience is likely to use many of the terms in the website in everyday conversation. Nor can judicial notice be taken, had it 54 KNIEVEL v. ESPN Knievel v. ESPN, Inc., 223 F.Supp. 2d 1173, 1180-1181 (D. Mont. 2002). The Majority erroneously follows suit. See Majority Op. at III.B.2 (“[t]he content of the EXPN.com main page is lighthearted, jocular, and intended for a youthful audience”). Since the EXPN.com event and website are targeted at the hip, young and irreverent who revel in slang and do not take statements “seriously,” the Majority reasons “no harm, no foul.” However, the case law does not allow a court to judge whether a statement is defamatory by asking who was intended to read or hear it. The true test is “who did read or hear it.” The general law of defamation is that a publisher is liable for the unintended results of his publication. See Tomaso v. Pan American, 235 Cal. Rptr. 292 (1987). Moreover, as even the Majority acknowledges, the jocular intent of the speaker does not insulate him from liability. See Polygram Records, Inc. v. Superior Court, 216 Cal. Rptr. 252, 257 (Ct. App. 1985) (“jocular intent of the publisher will not relieve him from liability if it is reasonable not to understand the been requested (which it was not) that youngsters call each other “pimps” in a jocular and light-hearted manner, rather than to provoke street corner fights. But even if we were to accept the stereotype of youth the Majority shares with the district court, neither consider a stereotype of other possible viewers: the more aged, the adolescents brought up in traditional or religious families, where modesty and decency are core values; the persons active in gender equity activities who greatly resent the power inequality which exists between pimps and prostitutes. One could go on. The point is the district court and the Majority have closed the door to consideration of the audience that makes up the “reasonable person” standard by which to judge the credibility of the statement, after positing a sin- gle stereotype: the “trash-talking” adolescent the alleged defamer claims to have targeted. Somewhat inconsistently, the Majority nevertheless inveighs against the anecdotal evidence offered by Knievel’s attorney regarding the definition of the term “pimp.” See Majority Op. at III.B.2. The function of the court at this pleading stage is not to choose between the versions to find what is credible; it is to determine whether plaintiffs’ submission is conceivably credible. KNIEVEL v. ESPN 55 utterance as a joke”); see also Rodriguez v. Panayiotou, 314 F.3d 979, 987 (9th Cir. 2002) (rejecting the argument that allegedly “humorous” language was protected where “the colorful and humorous language [defendant] used [ ] did not negate the impression that [defendant] was seriously maintaining [plaintiff] committed [the act]”). On this issue, the Majority’s focus of claimed “broad context” is, quite simply, not broad enough. One should include not only the audience ESPN claims, and the court accepts, as the one targeted. What about those dowdy corporate bourgeois who are Knievel’s clients and who allegedly have abandoned him because of the photograph and caption? Put another way, one cannot judge the liability of a defamer by the composition of what he claims is his targeted audience. One also has to consider not only who was targeted, but who was hit.