“公众人物”名誉保护受限的正式确立——柯蒂斯出版公司诉巴茨案

Formal Establishment of Restriction to Reputation of “Public Figures”:Curtis Publishing v. Butts,388 U.S. 130(1967)

在美国,新闻自由通常被称为宪法的"第四权",在美国宪法第一和第十四条修正案的保护之下,新闻媒体成为民间监督政府的重要路径。美国宪法保护的言论和出版自由是通过一系列的案件确立的。1964年的纽约时报诉沙利文案,第一次确立这样的原则——政府公职人员因处理公务遭受可能使个人名誉受损的批评和指责,不能以诽谤罪起诉和要求金钱赔偿,除非能证明这种指责具有"真正的恶意"。而本案则将"真正的恶意"原则的适用范围第一次从公职人员扩大到公众人物,而公众人物的具体范围则由法官酌情掌握。这样一来,不仅是公职人员,社会各行各业甚至是某一社区的名人都要接受社会舆论的监督。自本案以后,诽谤法的重点从刑事救济转向民事救济,从保护绝对的社会价值转向维护正当的个人权益,体现了美国倡导公众自由、保护个人权利的宪法精神。

In the United Stares, freedom of press is often referred to as the ＂fourth right ＂ of the constitution. Under the protection of the firstand fourteenth amendments to the US Constitution, media has become an indispensable way for people to supervise the government, nowever, the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press are still established through a series of cases. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which took place in 1964, for the first the affirmed that the public officials may not corn plain and seek monetary compensation for libelwhich risk damaging their reputation unless there are evidence of＂truemalice＂ found in the accusation. This case affirms thatpublic officials include public figures, extending the application of ＂actualmalice＂ and empowering judges to determine who should be defined as public figures in specific cases. In this way, notonly public officials, butcelebrities from allwalks of life and even a certain community will be supervised by the public. Since this case, the em phasis of libel law has shifted from criminal to civil rein ed ies, from the protection of absolute social values to the safeguarding of valid personal interests, reflecting the American constitutional spiritofadvocating public freedom and protecting individual rights.