Court Opinion

ID: 9854569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:09:19.120099+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:09.611052
License: Public Domain

Birdsong, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur specially with the majority opinion because I cannot concur with all that is said therein. Specifically, I cannot concur with the conclusion that “the United States Supreme Court has long recognized a conditional privilege for statements made about either a private or public figure if those statements concerned the individual’s involvement in an event of public or general interest.” (Emphasis *686supplied.) Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, 403 U. S. 29 (91 SC 1811, 29 LE2d 296), and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (84 SC 710, 11 LE2d 686), are cited as authority for this statement. In New York Times the court “defined a constitutional privilege intended to free [the media from liability for] criticism of public officials from the restraints imposed by the common law of defamation.” (Emphasis supplied.) Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U. S. 323, 334 (94 SC 2997, 41 LE2d 289). The majority opinion confuses the term “constitutional privilege” with the statutory term “conditional privilege.” In Georgia, the term “conditional privilege” is a term of art for it has a codified meaning. It is defined in OCGA § 51-5-7, and is restricted to those statutorily included subjects, and it does not include “statements made about either a private or public figure if those statements concerned the individual’s involvement in an event of public or general interest.” The New York Times case does not discuss a “conditional privilege” and addressed only public officials. Further, any reference to Rosenbloom as authority is suspect. Rosenbloom was a badly fractured opinion, with five separate opinions being issued, and the views of the plurality of three were soundly rejected in Gertz. Rosenbloom applied the “actual malice” test of New York Times to a private individual. Gertz rejected that notion and the reasoning of Rosenbloom (see Gertz, supra at 346) and held that New York Times “actual malice” test did not apply to media defamation of a private individual, and “that, so long as they do not impose liability without fault, the States may define for themselves the appropriate standard of liability for a publisher or broadcaster of defamatory falsehood injurious to a private individual.” Id. at 347. This holding places the authority for establishing the liability for defamation of a private individual with the states. In Georgia, neither our statutes nor decisions of our Supreme Court extend a “conditional privilege” to media publication of newsworthy events.
The majority ignores two Georgia Supreme Court decisions, one decision of this court, and one decision of the United States Supreme Court, in holding that the media has a qualified privilege to publish newsworthy events. The U. S. Supreme Court held that “ ‘[t]he publisher of a newspaper has no special immunity from the application of general laws. He has no special privilege to invade the rights and liberties of others.’ Associated Press v. Labor Board, 301 U. S. 103, 132-133.” Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U. S. 130, 150 (87 SC 1975, 18 LE2d 1094). Our Georgia Supreme Court held: “A newspaper is not privileged in its publications, but it is liable for what it publishes, in the same manner as any individual. [Cits.] The publication of defamatory matter is not privileged because published in the form of an advertisement, or as news, or because furnished by a correspondent, or is copied from other papers. [Cits.]
*687“The right to publish through the newspaper press such matters of interest as may be properly laid before the public does not go to the extent of allowing the publication concerning a person of false and defamatory matter, there being no other reason or justification for so doing than the mere publication of the news.” (Emphasis supplied.) Cox v. Strickland, 101 Ga. 482, 493 (3) (28 SE 655). This is our general law in Georgia and apparently the majority view in the United States. See Atlanta News Publishing Co. v. Medlock, 123 Ga. 714 (6) (51 SE 756); Morton v. Stewart, 153 Ga. App. 636, 637 (266 SE2d 230); Wood v. Constitution Pub. Co., 57 Ga. App. 123, 131 (194 SE 760); Lowe v. News Pub. Co., 9 Ga. App. 103, 104 (5) (70 SE 607); 53 CJS 173, Libel & Slander § 98; 50 AmJur2d 769, Libel & Slander, § 251; Anno. 50 ALR3d 1311, 1362 § 21. No attempt has been made to distinguish or overrule these Georgia authorities. However, they exist and they are incompatible with the majority opinion.
The majority does recognize that Montgomery v. Pacific &c. Co., 131 Ga. App. 712 (206 SE2d 631) and WSAV-TV v. Baxter, 119 Ga. App. 185 (166 SE2d 416) should be overruled, but that Minton v. Thomson Newspapers, 175 Ga. App. 525 (333 SE2d 913) which followed Baxter and Montgomery need not be overruled. They distinguish Minton, even though it holds that “the media which routinely broadcast or publish news stories of what happens in the community in which the public has a legitimate interest are afforded a cloak of protection in that the publication constitutes a qualified privilege. [Baxter, supra.] Where the privilege is qualified (conditional), the exercise of the privilege must be in good faith and ordinary care.” 175 Ga. App. at 527. My objection to Minton is that it perpetuates the misconception that media publishers and broadcasters have “a qualified privilege” to “publish news stories ... in which the public has a legitimate interest. . . .” 175 Ga. App. at 527. This wording is contrary to Cox, supra, and Medlock, supra, and no attempt is made to explain why these Supreme Court cases are not controlling.
The majority opinion finds Minton acceptable because it was “decided subsequent to . . . Gertz . . . [and] properly applied the standard of ordinary care adopted by our own Supreme Court in Triangle Publications. . . .” This reasoning fails to consider that the Supreme Court did not find that the publisher had a “conditional privilege” to publish its defamatory matter. The court explained that “21 states have adopted an ordinary care standard . . . [and they] agree with the majority view that a negligence standard for private figure plaintiffs best preserves the balance between free speech interests and protection of the individual’s reputation. See Restatement 2d of Torts, § 580 (b).” 253 Ga. at 181. Hence, the court adopted the Restatement view along with the majority of the states. That Restatement view is: “One consequence of the holding of [Gertz, supra] is *688that mere negligence as to falsity, being required for all actions of defamation, is no longer treated as sufficient to amount to abuse of a conditional privilege. Instead, knowledge or reckless disregard as to falsity is necessary for this purpose.” (Emphasis supplied.) Restatement 2d, Torts § 600, Comment B. This distinction is the key to my disagreement with the majority view, that is, mere negligence does not defeat “a conditional privilege.” A “conditional privilege” (OCGA § 51-5-7) is defeated by “malice.” OCGA § 51-5-9. “ ‘(P)roof that the communication as made was privileged will defeat recovery unless actual malice on the part of the defendant exists.’ ” Morton v. Gardner, 155 Ga. App. 600, 604 (271 SE2d 733); Sparks v. Parks, 172 Ga. App. 823, 826 (324 SE2d 784); Van Gundy v. Wilson, 84 Ga. App. 429, 433 (66 SE2d 93). Thus, it is clear that a conditionally privileged communication is defeated by malice and that a communication regarding a private individual by a media publication or broadcast is now defeated by a showing of negligence. Triangle Publications, supra. The only logical conclusion is that the media publication or broadcast is not conditionally privileged. If it was conditionally privileged, the controlling criterion would be “malice.” OCGA § 51-5-9. Since such media publication or broadcast regarding a private individual is now defeated by a showing of negligence, and negligence is insufficient to defeat a conditional privileged communication (Restatement 2d, Torts § 600, Comment B), I cannot agree with the majority conclusion that this TV broadcast was conditionally privileged. Hence, since Minton, supra, parrots Baxter, supra, and Montgomery, supra, as to news broadcasts being conditionally privileged, and these holdings are contrary to Cox, supra, and Medlock, I would overrule Minton and follow our Supreme Court.
In summary, the news media have a “constitutional privilege” to publish and broadcast newsworthy items of general or public interest (Gertz, supra), and such “privilege” is defeated by a showing of “negligence.” Triangle Publications, supra at 181. However, this “constitutional privilege” is not the same as Georgia’s statutory “conditional privilege” (OCGA § 51-5-7), which is defeated by a showing of “malice.” OCGA § 51-5-9. The Georgia Supreme Court, implementing Gertz by establishing a standard for determination of liability of a media defendant in a defamation action by a private individual, elected to follow the majority and the Restatement and adopted a “negligence” standard. “Negligence” being insufficient to amount to an abuse of a “conditional privilege” (Restatement 2d, Torts, § 600, Comment B), any notion that a news broadcast of matters of public or general interest is conditionally privileged, is not supported by our law.
I therefore specially concur with the majority.
I am authorized to state that Judge Carley joins in this special *689concurrence.
Decided March 18, 1988
Rehearing denied April 1, 1988
Charles W. Brannon, Jr., for Diamond.
Paul W. Painter, Jr., for Am. Family and Am. Savannah.