Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
Class Activities
Chapter 6: Protecting Privacy
1. Consider inviting a high-profile student athlete, a prominent local figure, or any other
famous or semi-famous person you can access to come to class for a guest lecture/Q&A
about right of publicity. Ask students to prepare questions that get to right of publicity
issues. At the end of the guest lecture, students can write a minute paper on what they
learned about how the right of publicity concept works in practice. In a separate class, share
the most insightful observations and/or comments. This activity personalizes the right to
publicity and helps students see the impact of the various cases that are playing out in the
headlines.
2. Ask students to find and read the privacy policies they likely have ignored or never read –
from Facebook, Instagram, iTunes, Twitter, YouTube, etc. What are the privacy implications
to accepting these “terms of service” agreements? Have them search the web to find
resources that can help them figure out which settings to disable and enable, and challenge
them to find other free resources that allow them to take ownership of what they share in
social and other online spaces. Do they have any protection from the FTC? How does that
work? They can then share what they find/learn with their classmates and explain how
different resources work.
3. At the end of class, have students write a minute paper about false light to check their
understanding of the concept. Focus on how false light differs from libel or why some states
don’t recognize false light.
4. Ask students to go to the FTC website and read the advice for “How to Keep Your Personal
Information Secure” (www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0272-how-keep-your-personal-
information-secure). Have them work in groups of two or three to pick one item from the
long list of recommendations (e.g., they could pick “avoid phishing emails” or “keep
passwords private). Ask the groups to then spend about 15 minutes searching the web for
useful resources that would provide a “how to” for their topic – that is, specific steps
Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
someone could take to “avoid phishing emails,” for example. Have them report out what
they’ve learned.
5. Have students form small groups in class and apply the law to hypothetical fact situations.
The following hypothetical situation is based on KOVR-TV, Inc. v. Superior Court, 37 Cal.
Rptr. 2d 431 (Cal. App. 1995). KOVR-TV is an intentional infliction of emotional distress
case and is discussed in Chapter 4. However, adding some hypothetical facts allows it to be
used as a fact situation in which students may consider all the four privacy torts.
Hypothetical
Two children, Sam and Jane Smith, ages 9 and 10, are murdered in their home. Next door live
two children, Allen and Joyce Jones, ages 11 and 12, who were friends of the murdered children.
On the day the murders took place, and while the Jones children still were unaware of the
murders, Jake Johnson, a reporter for KXYZ-TV, came to the door of the Joneses’ home.
Johnson asks the younger Jones child if he can come in. The child says, “No.” Johnson
steps inside the door, and opens the door wider so the camera operator, standing on the
sidewalk, can shoot into the house.
With the camera rolling, Johnson asked the Jones children about the Smith family next door.
Johnson knew that no adult was home in the Joneses’ house at the time. Johnson told Allen
and Joyce that the Smiths’ mother had killed her children and then herself. The Jones children
were visibly distraught. The television camera caught their horrified expressions. Johnson then
continued interviewing Allen and Joyce about the Smith family, recording the interview on
videotape.
During the interview, Joyce Jones revealed that her mother and the Smith children’s mother had
been seeing the same psychiatrist “because they were unhappy and depressed.” This was true,
although Ms. Sally Jones, Allen’s and Joyce’s mother, had told no one but her immediate
family. Joyce also said that her mother would “cry her eyes out” when she heard about what
happened to the Smiths. That portion of Joyce’s interview was not aired. Johnson did not
interview nor see any other member of the Jones family, nor any member of the Smith family.
Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
The tape was edited to a two-minute segment and run on KXYZ’s 10 p.m. news program. At
the end of his report on the 10 p.m. news program, Johnson stated, “And by day’s end, Sally
Jones wept uncontrollable tears.”
Sally Jones, for herself and her children, comes to you, as her attorney, and wants to sue
KXYZ and Jake Johnson for every privacy tort possible. Please explain to her what the
likelihood will be to win on each tort, and why.
Sample Answer
Jones will not succeed with an appropriation suit. Her name and her children’s names
and pictures were used on the television station’s news program. Courts would accept the
newsworthiness defense.
