LFP PUBLISHING GROUP, LLC, d/b/a Hustler ... - SCOTUSblog

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Here, the subject nude photographs of
Decedent are not on the cover of Hustler magazine,
but on the inside on pp. 40-41, and are part of an
article on the life and death of a person very much in
the national and international news at the time of
the publication of the magazine. For a court to
declare that these pictures are not newsworthy and
outside of the protection of the First Amendment is
simply in contravention of this Court’s
jurisprudence, as well as the learned opinions of
Professors McCarthy and Prosser, supra. Moreover,
such a precedent would apply not just to Hustler
magazine and its publisher Larry Flynt, but to other
more "mainstream" books and magazines as well. If
allowed to stand, this decision would cast a chilling
effect over the entire concept of freedom of the press.
In its rationale attempting to explain why the
subject nude photographs of Benoit were not
newsworthy, the Eleventh Circuit stated that they
were not related to the "incident of public concern,"
which it found to be limited to Benoit’s death. 572
F.3d at 1211. However, that is an erroneous
analysis of the newsworthy issue. The editors of
Hustler magazine found that the life and death of
Decedent Benoit was of interest to the magazine’s
readers. As part of Benoit’s life story, she
unquestionably posed for nude photographs as a
young woman - a true fact about her life. Hustler
then chose to publish photographs illustrating that
portion of Benoit’s life, as of interest to its readers.
Under the applicable legal principles, those
photographs were clearly related to an article of
public interest, and were therefore part of the
newsworthiness exception to the Georgia right of