Court Opinion

ID: 9759380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:14:43.216566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:01.660149
License: Public Domain

HUGHES, C. J.,
concurring.
I concur on all points with the perceptive opinion of Justice Handler. I would add my view that the defiant and inflamma*20tory language of this reporter, his exhibitionism and its impact on the crowd of onlookers, and his rejection of emergency police authority reflected no credit upon the reputation of the responsible press. A lone state trooper attempting to make first aid attention available to an apparently dying woman pinned in a car, with the imminent added danger of fire, would have deserved, one would think, supportive cooperation by any bystander, including a member of the press. No matter its aggressive pursuit of the news and the truth, the press is bound, as are we all, to an additional standard of minimum decency and respect for the law. As well said by Justice Handler, “[t]he liberty which the press seeks to assure our people can be meaningfully enjoyed only in a society where there is an adequate measure of order.” 81 N.J. 1, 13, (1979).