## Facts

- WCBS-TV (owned by CBS) aired a May 1979 evening news report about toxic chemical dumping in Newark, New Jersey.
- Reporter Arnold Diaz and a CBS crew filmed an on-the-spot confrontation with Irving Machleder outside Flexcraft Industries’ property near where toxic barrels were found.
- Machleder refused to be interviewed or filmed, became agitated, and demanded that the crew stop filming.
- The broadcast used the footage and, according to Machleder, falsely implied he was involved in illegal dumping and depicted him in a highly offensive false light.
- Machleder and Flexcraft sued CBS, Diaz, and other CBS personnel for defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and additional privacy/trespass-related claims.

## Issues

1. Under New Jersey law, as limited by the First Amendment, what elements must be shown to establish false light invasion of privacy, including the required degree of falsity and offensiveness?
2. Whether the broadcast’s depiction of Machleder as “intemperate and evasive,” and any implied accusation of illegal dumping, was substantially false and offensive to an ordinary person.
3. Whether a false light verdict may stand when the jury did not sustain the alleged falsity on the related defamation theory.
4. Whether dismissal of the remaining privacy and trespass claims was proper.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the judgment for Machleder on the false light claim and vacated the compensatory ($250,000) and punitive ($1,000,000) damages.
- The court held that, under New Jersey law informed by First Amendment constraints, a false light claim requires a portrayal that is substantially false and offensive to an ordinary person.
- The court concluded the on-air depiction of Machleder’s demeanor was based on his actual recorded conduct and therefore was not substantially false.
- To the extent Machleder claimed the segment implied he was an illegal dumper, that alleged falsity was not sustained by the jury’s resolution of the defamation claim and could not support false light liability.
- The court affirmed dismissal of Machleder’s other privacy and trespass claims.

## Legal Principles

- False light invasion of privacy under New Jersey law requires a portrayal that is (1) substantially false and (2) offensive to an ordinary person.
- The First Amendment bars imposing false light liability for accurate reporting, even if the coverage is embarrassing or unflattering.
- Editorial decisions (selection, emphasis, and editing of footage) do not create false light liability absent a substantially false portrayal.
- False light cannot be used as a substitute for defamation liability where the required falsity is not proven.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit set aside a large false light verdict arising from a televised confrontation because the broadcast’s depiction was not substantially false, and imposing liability would punish accurate news reporting in conflict with First Amendment protections.


Machleder v. Diaz, 801 F.2d 46 (2d Cir. 1986)