Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.

Zacchini (plaintiff) performed a 'human cannonball' act at a county fair. A reporter for Scripps-Howard Broadcasting (defendant) filmed the act after Zacchini had asked him not to, and the station aired the roughly 15-second clip-essentially the whole act-on the local news. Zacchini sued for the unauthorized appropriation of his professional performance. The state supreme court recognized his right of publicity but held the media had a constitutional privilege to broadcast a newsworthy performance without paying, and it denied recovery. Zacchini obtained review in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Whether the First Amendment immunizes the news media from state right-of-publicity liability when it broadcasts a performer's entire act, without consent, as part of a news program.