Hulk Hogan Leg Drops Gawker • RIP Gawker (OT)
An Oxford education, elite media lawyers and the constitutional shield for freedom of the press was not enough to protect Gawker publisher Nick Denton and the view of press rights in America from the wrath of 6ft 7in, 302lb Hulk Hogan.
On Friday in St Petersburg, Florida, the legendary pro-wrestler, whose real name is Terry Bollea, delivered a $115m legal hit on the iconoclastic web publisher, a victory that signals a significant change in the publics tolerance for media invasions of privacy and that could bankrupt the site.
For three weeks jurors heard how Denton, a media star with ambitions of revolutionising news coverage, and AJ Daulerio, a former Gawker editor, had published and refused to take down a 2006 s*x tape of Hogan and the wife of his best friend, DJ Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
Dentons refusal to do so now stands as a fateful decision that could determine whether the 49-year-old publisher goes down as both creator and destroyer of Gawker Media. If the judge in the case imposes as $50m bond on Gawker, which its representatives say it cannot pay, the site and its nine ancillary publications could quickly collapse.
Related: Hulk"s lawyers say Gawker founder was "playing G*d" in closing court arguments
Whether DJ Clem approved of his wifes extramarital activities Hogan settled with him for $5,000 publication of the bedroom events were not. Hogan sued Gawker, Gawker stood on its right to publish, and jurors sided with Hogan, who shed tears in the courtroom when the verdict came down after just six hours of deliberations.
But the question remains: why had Denton insisted on Gawkers right to publish, flying as it does in a perceptible shift in how the public sees privacy rights?
Dentons vocal adamance made clear that he was out of step with public sentiment long before the Hogan case came to court. Advocating a philosophy of extreme openness, which he applied to Gawkers editorial choices, the site has arguably stepped over the line repeatedly. In 2012, Denton said he was proud to have taken part in outing a CNN presenter; in 2013 and 2014, it published a string of articles about the private life of a Fox News anchor; and in 2015, it exposed an affair involving a married media executive from a rival firm. The site was accused of gay-shaming, and Denton subsequently pledged to make Gawker 20% nicer.
But Dentons attempts to apply extreme openness to others could cost the ruin of his company. Like the jurors in Florida, the public is now far less likely to side with the media over privacy issues. Its an empathetic shift, some argue, that has come from having to manage public and private identities on and offline.
The public has seen the damage that online speech can do, and is getting sick of the media and becoming very pro-privacy, said Samantha Barbas, a law professor at the University at Buffalo. The public is becoming disenchanted with freedom of speech and this verdict is a reflection of that.
Related: US woman pursues ex-boyfriend in landmark UK revenge-p**n action
New laws prohibiting revenge p**n, or growing calls for the right to be forgotten are signals of the same shift, she said.
Last month, US sportscaster Erin Andrews was awarded $55m against Marriott Hotels, after a Tennessee jury found the chain had not protected her from being filmed in the shower by a stalker. Last week, a Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty and now faces five years in prison for dumping a trove of n**e celebrity images, some including actor Jennifer Lawrence, in 2014 an event now thought of as a turning point in attitudes toward celebrity privacy.
Throughout the Hogan trial, Denton maintained Hogans sexual activities were of legitimate public interest. We believed the story had value, Denton said. That it was true, that it was a story honestly told, and that it was interesting to millions of people.
Denton has now vowed to appeal the case, arguing the jurors were not given the chance to hear key testimony from Clem. We feel very positive about the appeal that we have already begun preparing, as we expect to win this case ultimately, he said in a statement after the verdict.
Regardless of any appeals outcome, Denton may have inadvertently ushered in a second phase in the way the media operates. The first came with the founding of Gawker in 2002 as a gossip blog that skewered celebrities and New York media figures. Fridays verdict could herald a shift in media practices around privacy, reflecting growing disdain for invasions of privacy.
Hogans legal team said as much in a statement, calling the verdict: a statement as to the publics disgust with the invasion of privacy disguised as journalism.
Related: Google to extend "right to be forgotten" to all its domains accessed in EU
Ordinary people feel like theyve been burned and this decision could be felt [in the media] very tangibly right away, Barbas said.
Courts have long grappled with the question of what defines a newsworthy story, and what constitutes legitimate public concern under the law and many celebrities and politicians have come down on the losing side of judges and juries over their high status in the public eye. But the Gawker verdict firmly rejected Dentons arguments that Hogans fame and boasting of his sexual exploits made him any different from an anonymous member of the public.
Inadvertently, Denton and Gawker may also have revealed something more about the contemporary dilemma of two personas the public and private that celebrities have long since grappled with.
Its something were all struggling with and thats kind of what the Hulk Hogan verdict was about, Barbas said. Even someone who makes s*x part of their public persona deserves a right to privacy in their own intimate lives. Its an important decision.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/19/hulk-hogan-lawsuit-win-takedown-gawker
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