A letter sent by Hunter Biden’s lawyers to Fox News, which resulted in the network pulling a documentary, contains a legal allegation that has significant implications for American journalism, according to analysts interviewed by the Daily Caller.
Biden’s legal team has accused Fox of unlawfully using his name, image, and likeness, also alleging violation of revenge porn laws. They also contested the credibility of claims made by former FBI source Alexander Smirnov, used in Fox’s reports. Aaron Terr from FIRE expressed concern that if the revenge porn allegations lead to a ruling against Fox, it could negatively impact press freedom, the outlet reported.
“The media has the First Amendment right to publish even illegally obtained information as long as they didn’t participate in the illegal conduct itself. So, of course, the government can punish the hacker. But the First Amendment broadly protects the right of the press to report on information in the public interest, or that’s already been made publicly available, even if some uninvolved party was responsible or participated in some illegal activity that resulted in the information becoming public,” Terr said.
Biden’s lawyers demanded the network remove their documentary, “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” from their Fox Nation streaming platform. The Biden team asserts the usage of the pictures violates his privacy rights under New York Civil Rights Law and that the series exploits his NIL.
“Here, without Mr. Biden’s consent, Fox Nation produced and aired an entirely fictional six-part ‘mock trial,’” Biden’s lawyers wrote. They argue that Fox was not reporting on a newsworthy event, but rather “sought to ‘commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment distinct from the dissemination of news or information.’”
A Fox spokesperson told the Caller the documentary was removed out of an “abundance of caution.” It comes after the network paid hundreds of millions to settle a defamation lawsuit filed against the company by Dominion Voting Systems over claims by hosts and guests that the software firm changed votes from former President Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election.
Fox “unlawfully published and continues to publish intimate images of Mr. Biden depicting him in the nude as well as engaged in sex acts in violation of the majority of states’ laws against the nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and videos, sometimes referred to as ‘revenge porn’ laws,” Biden’s lawyers claim.
James Bopp, general counsel for the James Madison Institute for Free Speech, also cautioned the Daily Caller about the potential consequences of the revenge porn allegations on American media.
“This is a calculated effort to chill and intimidate,” Bopp said. “It’s all about suppressing the freedom of speech and press.”
Bopp stated that revenge porn laws only apply when there is no legitimate public interest in publishing the content.
“This isn’t revenge porn — when somebody is trying to punish somebody else,” Bopp said. “This has legitimate public interest that has to do with the conduct of Hunter’s father in office, in terms of the threat of the possibility that he would be compromised because of the conduct of his son. So, you know, this isn’t just satisfying somebody’s interest. This is a legitimate issue for the press to report upon.”
“[The images] can be illegally placed in the public domain just like the Pentagon Papers were, and they can still be published,” Bopp continued.
