Privacy

The law of privacy in the United States does not fit into a single conceptual framework. The term privacy consists of three distinct, though related, broad legal categories: constitutional privacy, statutory privacy, and the privacy torts or civil claims. In popular discussions and debates, journalists and nonjournalists alike often blur the distinctions. All three are relevant to journalism and everyday life in the United States. This entry first discusses how technological developments of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have forced journalists to grapple with new privacy concerns. It then looks in turn at the three different legal categories of privacy and how they relate to journalism.

As photography grew and the press became more intrusive in the late 19th century, journalists, philosophers, and legal ...