Abstract
Gossip is old, but the phenomenon of mass-media gossip is of relatively recent origin. In the United States, gossip and “human-interest” journalism—”chatty little reports in tragic or comic incidents in the lives of the people”—became a regular feature the press by the mid-1800s.1 Seeking to achieve a broad popular readership in the burgeoning cities, publishers fashioned the “news” as entertainment. By the end of the century, most newspapers prominently discussed the personal affairs of public figures —actors, politicians, and businessmen —as well as those of ordinary people. The front pages of the papers overflowed with tales about private lives, ranging from stories about scandalous divorce cases and crimes of passion to the mundane activities of daily life.2 This innovation in publishing not only transformed social life and popular culture in the United States but led to significant innovations in the law as well.
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Notes
Helen MacGill Hughes, News and the Human Interest Story (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940), 12–13.
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Rosenberg, Protecting the Best Men, 222–223. See, for example, Sweeney v. Schenectady Union Pub. Co., 122 F. 2d 288 (2d Cir. 1941).
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Falwell v. Flynt, 797 F.2d 1270, 1273 (4th Cir. 1986). This was revised in Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 US 46 (1988).
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© 2014 Kathleen A. Feeley and Jennifer Frost
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Barbas, S. (2014). Gossip Law. In: Feeley, K.A., Frost, J. (eds) When Private Talk Goes Public. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137442307_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137442307_7
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