Is the Conduct Plainly in the Public View, and the Area Generally Outside the Privacy Sphere?
In Jacova v. Southern Radio & Television Co., 83 So. 2d 34 (Fla. 1955), plaintiff was an innocent customer filmed during a gambling raid on a cigar store. In plaintiff’s right of privacy action, the court granted summary judgment to the television station, finding a qualified privilege to broadcast the name or photograph of a person who became an “actor” in a newsworthy event: Even though the plaintiff’s role of “actor” in an event having news value was not of his own volition — having been thrust upon him by the investigating officers by mistake — the fact remains that he was in a public place and present at a scene where news was in the making. Id. at 40. Similarly, in Bisbee v. Conover, 452 A.2d 689 (N.J. App. 1982), the court granted summary judgment in favor of a newspaper that printed an article regarding the sale of a local historic house accompanied by a photograph of the house from the street. The court found that the photograph was taken from a public thoroughfare and merel
