Volume 106
Issue
1
Date
2017

Making News: Balancing Newsworthiness and Privacy in the Age of Algorithms

by Erin C. Carroll

This Article proposes that instead of exercising deference to the press as a reflex and dismissing cases against the media at an early stage, the law should place a burden on media defendants. They would need to prove two things. First, media defendants would need to show they engaged in the process the courts have typically assumed has occurred-assessing newsworthiness before deciding to publish. Second, given that the First Amendment provides the theoretical underpinning for the newsworthiness defense, media defendants would need to demonstrate the publication of the allegedly private fact had First Amendment value-for example, a dialogue-building or watchdog function.

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