Public figure
A public figure is a person who has achieved fame, prominence or notoriety within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own.
In the context of defamation actions as well as invasion of privacy, a public figure cannot succeed in a lawsuit on incorrect harmful statements in the United States unless there is proof that the writer or publisher acted with actual malice by knowing the falsity or by reckless disregard for the truth. The legal burden of proof in defamation actions is thus higher in the case of a public figure than in the case of an ordinary person.
The tort of defamation depends on jurisdiction: for example, the law of defamation in England and Wales differs from Scotland or the State of Florida.
United States
The controlling precedent in the United States was set in 1964 by the United States Supreme Court in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which is considered a key decision in supporting the First Amendment and freedom of the press.A fairly high threshold of public activity is necessary to elevate people to a public figure status. They may be:
- A public official or any other person pervasively involved in public affairs
- A ', which according to Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. is a person who has "thrust themselves to the forefront of particular public controversies in order to influence the resolution of the issues involved", or engaged in actions to generate publicity within a narrow area of interest
- An ', an individual who has become a public figure as a result of publicity, although they may or may not have voluntarily sought it out; this can include victims of crime, as well as those who commit crimes or are accused of committing crimes.
Corporations are not automatically treated as public figures, and defamation claims made by corporations are evaluated under the same standard as those made by individuals.