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Business Ethics National Enquirer Case
“National Enquirer Inc. publishes and distributes a weekly general interest periodical under the name, National Enquirer. National Enquirer periodical contains information and editorial content related to investigative reporting, celebrity gossip and features, human-interest stories and covers articles about health, food, and household affairs topics. The company is based in Boca Raton, Florida. National Enquirer operates as a subsidiary of American Media Operations Inc “(Frost, 2011 ¶1).
National Enquirer has a reputation for stretching the truth about the stories contained within the magazine. Often times the stories are derogatory toward celebrity figures, and are grossly exaggerated creating a perception of that person that is not positive. This would be defamation of character “Defamation of Character, is false and unprivileged spoken words or written publication, which exposes any living person to hatred, contempt, ridicule” (Aaron Larson, 2005 p. 1).
The stories have to be somewhat true so the journalist will print just enough truth to make the story believable. However, after many lawsuits and out of court settlements the magazine has tried to improve its public image. “The National Enquirer’s reputation is still poor, even with the improvements over the past years, according to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey” (Hannah, 2004 p.1).
Jones versus National Enquirer Case study:
“The National Enquirer published an article about Shirley Jones, an entertainer. Jones, a California resident, filed a lawsuit in California state court against the National Enquirer and its president, who was a resident of Florida. The California lawsuit sought damages for alleged defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783, 104 S.Ct. 1482, 79 L.Ed.2d 804, Web 1984 U.S. Lexis 4“(Supreme Court of the United States). The National Enquirer chose to ignore the petition because they were in Florida and did not frequent California on a regular basis. The journalist stated that they had conducted most of the research by telephone and used sources to gain knowledge on Jones (Find law, 2011). Ignoring the petition seems like it is an unethical decision and against the law. However, the Enquirer motivated by the negative publicity that a court battle could ensue did not want to face this head on. This would cost the shareholders money, and bad publicity and the company had been trying to recover from its bad reputation. However, a law code was in place to cover such cases “California's long-arm" statute permits an assertion of jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant whenever permitted by the State and Federal Constitutions. California Civ. Proc. Code Ann. 410.10 (West 1973) provides: "A court of this state may exercise jurisdiction on any basis not inconsistent with the Constitution of this state or of the United States". (Find law 2011). Therefore the law suit against the Enquirer is legal in California.
Considering the defamation of character in the Jones vs. National Enquirer “A geographic analysis of the total paid circulation for the September 18, 1979, issue of the Enquirer showed total sales, national and international, of 5,292,200. Sales in California were 604,431. The State with the next highest total was New York, with 316,911. App. 39-41.” (Find Law 2011). This much negative publicity would damage the public’s view of Jones, affecting her ability to lead a productive, lucrative life her field.
The damages caused by the mass amounts of publications led the jury to determine that Jones indeed had suffered damages due to the National Enquirer’s sales of a story that was not entirely true.“We hold that jurisdiction over petitioners in California is proper because of their intentional conduct in Florida calculated to cause injury to respondent in California. The judgment of the California Court of Appeal is affirmed” (Find Law, 2011 p.1).

Reference

Aaron Larson, (2005) Defamation of Character Attorneys USA Retrieved August 20, 2011 http://www.attorneys-usa.com/intentional/defamation.html

Cheeseman, H. R. (2010). The legal environment of business and online commerce: Business

ethics, e-commerce, regulatory, and international issues. (6th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Find Law, a Thomson Reuters business Retrieved Aug 20, 2011 from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case=/us/465/783.html
Frost, E. (2010). National Enquirer, INC. Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved Aug 20, 2011, from:http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3721450
Hannah. (2004). Tabloid Journalism. Retrieved Aug 20, 2011, from http://www.jour.unr.edu/think/tabloids.html

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