Abstract
Professor Sims surveys and classifies a variety of cases in which tort actions for wrongful death or physical injury are brought against media defendants, usually predicated on a theory of negligence. He analyzes the two major conceptual models for the comprehensive application of First Amendment principles to these cases — the Brandenburg test for the advocacy of unlawful action and the "of public/private concern" distinction developed in the Supreme Court's defamation jurisprudence — and concludes that the former is overprotective and the latter is underprotective, and that both theories present conceptual problems as well. He proposes, instead, a balancing test, based on Judge Learned Hand's formulation adopted in United States v. Dennis, as a comprehensive First Amendment approach to this area of law.
How to Cite
34 Ariz. L. Rev. 231 (1992)
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