Forrester v. WVTM TV, Inc.

709 So. 2d 23 (1997)

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Forrester v. WVTM TV, Inc.

Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
709 So. 2d 23 (1997)

Facts

Joe Rogers was a part-time photographer for the television station WVTM TV, Inc. (station) (defendant) when he attended a youth baseball game involving five- and six-year-olds. After noticing a man yelling at a player, Rogers began videotaping the game. Rogers’s recording captured the same child running off the field after being tagged out between two bases, taking off his batting helmet, and looking (according to Rogers) like he was about to cry. The recording also showed the same man, who was later identified as the boy’s father, John Forrester (plaintiff), grabbing him and slapping him in the face, taking a few steps while still holding the boy, and then slapping him again before gesturing toward the field. The station decided to use Rogers’s tape in connection with a story that it described as being about the pressure children in sports face from adults. The story included a portion of Rogers’s video. As aired, the video obscured the faces of Forrester and his son with a blue dot, and the station did not identify Forrester or his son by name. Forrester’s slaps were difficult to see in the video as aired, but the station’s anchors told the audience that the adult slapped the boy twice. Forrester sued the station for defamation, alleging that it defamed him by portraying him as a child abuser. The station moved for summary judgment, arguing that (1) it never identified Forrester by name or showed his face, so the story neither concerned nor defamed him; (2) the story concerned a matter of public concern, thus requiring Forrester to show that it was false, which he failed to do because the video as aired truthfully reflected what occurred; and (3) the story never accused Forrester of committing child abuse. The trial court granted the station’s summary-judgment motion. Forrester appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Monroe, J.)

Dissent (Crawley, J.)

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