9th Circuit Allows Televangelist’s Suit Against '20/20' for Out-of-Context Film Clip
A federal appeals court is allowing a televangelist’s defamation suit claiming ABC’s 20/20 news program took a clip of one of his sermons out of context.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the suit by the Rev. Frederick Price, who preaches a “prosperity gospel” in televised sermons, according to the Associated Press and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The TV news magazine broadcast a film clip showing Price delivering a sermon in which he says: “I live in a 25-room mansion. I have my own $6 million yacht. I have my own private jet, and I have my own helicopter, and I have seven luxury automobiles.” But Price wasn’t talking about himself—a fact that wasn’t revealed in the 20/20 story. Rather, he was talking about a hypothetical person who has material riches while remaining spiritually unfulfilled.
A lower court had dismissed the suit because Price had made similar statements about his own wealth—which includes a $4.6 million home, a Rolls Royce and an $8,500 watch—making the film clip “substantially true.” The 9th Circuit reversed, saying the out-of-context clip had materially changed the meaning of Price’s words.
The 9th Circuit decision (PDF) set up the legal issue this way: “Journalists and publishers risk a defamation action when they put words in a public figure’s mouth. … The issue in this case is whether there are similar risks when a network television program broadcasts a statement actually made by a public figure, but presents the statement in a misleading context, thereby changing the viewer’s understanding of the speaker’s words.”
Additional coverage:
Wall Street Journal Law Blog: “Ninth Circuit Revives Defamation Suit”
