Clayton v. Macon Telegraph Pub. Co., 69263
| Decision Date | 29 January 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 69263,69263 |
| Citation | 326 S.E.2d 789,173 Ga.App. 466 |
| Parties | CLAYTON et al. v. MACON TELEGRAPH PUBLISHING COMPANY. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Lonzy F. Edwards, Macon, for appellants.
Edward S. Sell III, Macon, for appellee.
Appellants instituted the instant libel action after appellee published a front-page newspaper story on street corner drug transactions and accompanied the story with a photograph depicting a specified street intersection as well as an identifiable portion of appellants' home, which was located across the street from one of the street corners that was the subject of the article. The caption of the picture read: "Street-corner drug sales reportedly made at Poppy Avenue, Bluebell Street." In their complaint appellants alleged that the inclusion of the photograph imputed to appellants participation in illegal drug transactions, and that the average reader of the newspaper understood the photograph to be an accusation that appellants were involved in drug trafficking. This appeal is from the trial court's grant of summary judgment to appellee.
Pretermitting a discussion of whether the article and photograph constituted libel per se or libel by innuendo, we turn our attention to appellee's assertion that the publication was a privileged communication under OCGA § 51-5-7(7). That section provides a cloak of privilege for "[t]ruthful reports of information received from any arresting officer or police authorities..." The reporter who wrote the story executed an affidavit in which he stated that the article and caption in question were based on reports of information received from a police undercover officer, the chief of police, a police lieutenant, and a detective involved in the drug investigation. Each of these police officers and officials also executed affidavits in which he or she stated that all quotes or references in the article to his or her involvement in the investigation were a true and accurate report of the information the affiant gave the reporter.
The protective privileges afforded by OCGA § 51-5-7 are conditional and disappear in the face of actual malice. OCGA § 51-5-9; Fiske v. Stockton, 171 Ga.App. 601(2), 320 S.E.2d 590 (1984). Although the burden is on the plaintiff at trial to prove actual malice, when a defendant moves for summary judgment, it Sherwood v. Boshears, 157 Ga.App. 542, 543, 278 S.E.2d 124 (1981). In his affidavit the author of the article stated that he had never heard of appellants before they complained about the article and photograph; that he had...
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Hammer v. Slater
...190 Ga.App. 756, 758, 380 S.E.2d 279, 281, rev'd on other grounds, 259 Ga. 458, 383 S.E.2d 553 (1989); Clayton v. Macon Tel. Pub. Co., 173 Ga.App. 466, 467, 326 S.E.2d 789, 790 (1985); Fiske v. Stockton, 171 Ga.App. 601, 603, 320 S.E.2d 590, 593 (1984); Meyer v. Ledford, 170 Ga.App. 245, 24......
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...judgment was properly granted to defendant. Sparks v. Parks, 172 Ga.App. 823, 324 S.E.2d 784 (1984); Clayton v. Macon Telegraph, etc., Co., 173 Ga.App. 466, 326 S.E.2d 789 (1985). Judgment DEEN, P.J., and BENHAM, J., concur. 1 Compare Myers v. Phillips, 197 Ga. 536, 542, 29 S.E.2d 700 (1944). ...
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