Retired wrestler Hulk Hogan was awarded $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker.com over a sex tape.
Okay, so maybe that's a weird place to plant a First Amendment flag, but what does the ruling mean for other gossip-type sites and media publishers?
Fabio Bertoni, general counsel for The New Yorker, discusses the controversial nature of Hulk Hogan’s successful lawsuit against Gawker and the effect the ruling could have on publishers.
Bertoni said there is, of course, a spectrum of publications (from gossip news to hard-hitting investigations), but publishers might have to think twice about publishing footage without consent, which encroaches on First Amendment rights.
He pointed out: the gossip site TMZ did important work in breaking the Ray Rice story by publishing elevator camera footage of him physically abusing his fiancee, which reignited the conversation about violence and the NFL.
For the record, here's what @HulkHogan looked like in court. pic.twitter.com/RGrTwdEXcS
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 24, 2016