Dr. Raymond M. Gordon v. CBS Broadcasting

J-A25019-14
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
DR. RAYMOND M. GORDON AND ST. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
MATTHEW’S BAPTIST CHURCH PENNSYLVANIA
Appellants
v.
CBS BROADCASTING, INC. DOING
BUSINESS AS KYW TV-3 AND CBS 3,
NATASHA BROWN, AND ELIZABETH HUR
Appellees No. 3132 EDA 2013
Appeal from the Judgment Entered on September 4, 2013
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Civil Division at No.: 001974
BEFORE: DONOHUE, J., WECHT, J., and PLATT, J.*
MEMORANDUM BY WECHT, J.: FILED DECEMBER 08, 2014
In this defamation action, Dr. Raymond M. Gordon (“Pastor Gordon”)
and St. Matthew’s Baptist Church (“St. Matthew’s”)1 appeal the trial court’s
entry of summary judgment in favor of appellees CBS Broadcasting Inc.;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania TV station CBS 3; Natasha Brown; and Elizabeth
Hur (collectively, “CBS”). Appellants claim that CBS defamed them in its
broadcast concerning the arrest of Archie Bolger, a St. Matthew’s congregant
and former St. Matthew’s “preacher,” on suspicion of sexual assault of a
minor. They contend that the reporters’ use of certain terminology and their
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*
Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1
We refer to these parties collectively as “Appellants.”
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emphasis upon Bolger’s affiliation with St. Matthew’s led viewers to believe
that Pastor Gordon was guilty of sexual misconduct and that he and/or St.
Matthew’s were complicit in the crime. The trial court entered summary
judgment on behalf of CBS, concluding that no viewer reasonably could have
drawn such conclusions. We affirm.
The trial court has provided the following factual history:
This case arises from a September 19, 2011 CBS evening news
broadcast in which anchor Natasha Brown and [r]eporter
Elizabeth Hur presented a story relating to the arrest of Archie
Bolger on child molestation charges. This broadcast occurred
after the New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office issued a press release
announcing Bolger’s arrest and describing him as a “preacher at
St. Matthew’s Baptist Church in Williamstown[, New Jersey].”
The plaintiff in this case, along with St. Matthew’s, is Pastor
Raymond M. Gordon. Pastor Gordon is the congregation’s senior
spiritual [advisor] and [the] administrative leader of St.
Matthew’s; as evidenced by the broadcast’s footage of a church
sign and church van, his name appears where St. Matthew’s
name appears and his name is closely associated with the
church.
It is not in dispute that Bolger is or was a preacher (he is at
times referred to by church personnel as a “minister”) at
[St. Matthew’s], which is one of the largest churches in the
country. In the Baptist faith, a preacher is a person who
volunteers to preach the gospel when called upon. “Preacher”
and “Pastor” in this context, therefore, have technically different
definitions. Therefore, while Bolger would give sermons at the
church, he was not considered a spiritual or administrative
leader there. There are generally at least 20 members of the
church who are considered “preachers[.”]
[CBS’s] broadcast of September 19, 2011 beg[ins] with anchors
Chris May and Natasha Brown introducing the story from the
CBS studio; it then cuts to Elizabeth Hur, who is standing in the
parking lot of St. Matthew’s Church in New Jersey. Hur gives a
live broadcast, which includes pre-recorded pieces of video.
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Immediately before Brown turned the report over to Hur, she
stated that “The Pastor works at St. Matthew’s Church [. . .]”;
this utterance occurred during a display of a map of part of
South [New] Jersey on the television screen. Above the map
were the words “PREACHER ARRESTED[.”] During Hur’s report,
two pieces of pre-recorded footage were shown where Pastor
Gordon’s name was at least partially readable; one of these
pieces of footage was of a sign at what appears to be
St. Matthew’s main entrance, the other was of a church van.
Both the sign and the van include St. Matthew’s name and an
identification of Pastor Gordon as the pastor of the church. It is
these three aspects of the broadcast upon which [Appellants]
base their claims.
Trial Court Opinion (“T.C.O.”), 9/4/2013, at 1-2.
Based upon these events, on January 17, 2012, Appellants filed suit
against CBS in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, asserting venue on
the basis that defendant CBS 3 and its agents are located in Pennsylvania
and that the broadcast complained of originated in Pennsylvania. In counts I
and III, Appellants alleged “Defamation (actual malice standard)” on behalf
of the two above-captioned claimants. Complaint at 14-15, 17-19. In their
second and fourth counts, Appellants alleged “Defamation (negligence
standard).” Id. at 15-17, 19-20. On February 21, 2012, CBS filed
preliminary objections, which the trial court overruled on April 10, 2012.
The trial court entered a case management order on April 24, 2012, and
discovery commenced. On August 2, 2012, CBS filed a motion to dismiss
the instant litigation due to forum non conveniens, and, in the alternative, to
apply New Jersey law to Appellants’ claims. The trial court denied CBS’s
motion without prejudice on September 21, 2012, but determined that New
Jersey law did apply to this case.
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On May 6, 2013, after extensive, evidently contentious discovery
proceedings, CBS filed a motion for summary judgment. On September 4,
2013, after taking briefing and hearing argument, the trial court entered an
opinion and order granting summary judgment to CBS and dismissing
Appellants’ complaint with prejudice. On October 3, 2013, Appellants timely
filed the instant appeal. On April 14, 2014, the trial court filed an opinion
pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)2 incorporating by reference the reasoning set
forth in its September 4, 2013 opinion.
Before this Court, Appellants raise the following issues, which are
reordered to correspond to our discussion:
1. Whether the [t]rial [c]ourt erred in deciding that New
Jersey’s substantive defamation law should apply where
Pennsylvania has a significant interest in creating uniform
defamation standards for Pennsylvania broadcasters and
publishers, and where New Jersey has no interest in making it
more difficult for New Jersey citizens to obtain redress for
reputational harm?
2. Whether the [t]rial [c]ourt erred in concluding as a matter
of law that [CBS’s] [b]roadcast, which identified the alleged
perpetrator of a criminal sexual assault of a minor as St.
Matthew’s “Pastor,” and which included images of Pastor
Gordon’s name, was neither false nor defamatory?
3. Whether the [t]rial [c]ourt erred in concluding that the
[CBS b]roadcast, which identified the perpetrator of a criminal
sexual assault of a minor as St. Matthew’s “Pastor” and which
included multiple images of St. Matthew’s grounds, caused no
reputational harm to St. Matthew’s?
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2
The trial court did not direct Appellants to file a concise statement of
errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).
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Brief for Appellants at 2.
Although we must take up the choice of law issue before turning to
summary judgment, we begin with the standard of review that applies 3 to
summary judgment orders:
A reviewing court may disturb the order of the trial court only
where it is established that the court committed an error of law
or abused its discretion. Capek v. Devito, 767 A.2d 1047,
1048, n.1 (Pa. 2001). As with all questions of law, our review is
plenary. Phillips v. A-Best Prods. Co., 665 A.2d 1167, 1170
(Pa. 1995).
In evaluating the trial court’s decision to enter summary
judgment, we focus on the legal standard articulated in the
summary judgment rule. Pa.R.C.P. 1035.2. The rule states that
where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving
party is entitled to relief as a matter of law, summary judgment
may be entered. Where the non-moving party bears the burden
of proof on an issue, he may not merely rely on his pleadings or
answers in order to survive summary judgment. “Failure of a
non-moving party to adduce sufficient evidence on an issue
essential to his case and on which it bears the burden of
proof . . . establishes the entitlement of the moving party to
judgment as a matter of law.” Young v. PennDOT, 744 A.2d
1276, 1277 (Pa. 2000). Lastly, we will view the record in the
light most favorable to the non-moving party, and all doubts as
to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be
resolved against the moving party. Penna. State Univ. v.
County of Centre, 615 A.2d 303, 304 (Pa. 1992).
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3
For the reasons set forth infra, we find that the trial court was correct
ultimately to determine that New Jersey law should apply in this case.
However, regardless of the substantive law that applies to a case,
Pennsylvania courts apply Pennsylvania’s procedural law. See ADP., Inc.,
v. Morrow Motors Inc., 969 A.2d 1244, 1246 n.2 (Pa. Super. 2009).
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Murphy v. Duquesne Univ. of The Holy Ghost, 777 A.2d 418, 429
(Pa. 2001) (citations modified).
In order to determine whether the trial court erred in granting
summary judgment, we first must decide whether Pennsylvania or New
Jersey law governs Appellants’ claims. In doing so, we must assess whether
the relevant laws of the candidate states differ. If they do not, we need go
no further. However, if they differ materially, we then must determine the
governmental interests at issue and assess which state has the greater
interest in the application of its law. Wilson v. Transport Ins. Co., 889
A.2d 563, 571 (Pa. Super. 2005) (quoting Ratti v. Wheeling Pittsburgh
Steel Corp., 758 A.2d 695, 702 (Pa. Super. 2000)).
The trial court noted at the outset of its choice-of-law analysis that the
parties appeared not to dispute that New Jersey’s and Pennsylvania’s
respective laws of defamation differ. T.C.O. at 3 n.2; see Brief for
Appellants at 28-29. The court then turned to the second part of the choice-
of-law inquiry concerning the respective governments’ interests in the
matter. The court began by reviewing the Restatement (Second) of Conflict
of Laws § 150, upon which all parties rely. Section 150 (“Multistate
Defamation”) provides as follows:
(1) The rights and liabilities that arise from defamatory matter
in any one edition of a book or newspaper, or any one broadcast
over radio or television, exhibition of a motion picture, or similar
aggregate communication are determined by the local law of the
state which, with respect to the particular issue, has the most
significant relationship to the occurrence and the parties under
the principles stated in § 6.
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(2) When a natural person claims that he has been defamed
by an aggregate communication, the state of most significant
relationship will usually be the state where the person was
domiciled at the time, if the matter complained of was published
in that state.
(3) When a corporation, or other legal person, claims that it
has been defamed by an aggregate communication, the state of
most significant relationship will usually be the state where the
corporation, or other legal person, had its principal place of
business at the time, if the matter complained of was published
in that state.
Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 150. Restatement section 6
identifies the following principles as germane to the determination of which
jurisdiction has the “most significant relationship to the occurrence”:
(a) the needs of the interstate and international systems,
(b) the relevant policies of the forum,
(c) the relevant policies of other interested states and the
relative interests of those states in the determination of the
particular issue,
(d) the protection of justified expectations,
(e) the basic policies underlying the particular field of law,
(f) certainty, predictability and uniformity of results, and
(g) ease in the determination and application of the law to be
applied.
Id. § 6.
The trial court’s brief analysis focused upon the reputational interests
of Appellants. The trial court acknowledged Appellants’ assertion that more
than twice as many Pennsylvania households as New Jersey households saw
the broadcast. However, the trial court posited that “[d]efamation laws are
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‘undergirded by the state’s interest in protecting the individual reputations of
its citizens.’” T.C.O. at 4 (quoting Fitzpatrick v. Milky Way Prods.,
537 F. Supp. 165, 171 (E.D.Pa. 1982)). Emphasizing Appellants’ concession
that Appellants “are not as well-known in Pennsylvania as in New Jersey,”
and that a “vast majority” of St. Matthew’s congregants live in New Jersey,
the trial court concluded that Appellants’ reputations would suffer the most
in New Jersey. Id. Because “New Jersey defamation laws were enacted to
protect New Jersey citizens . . . from damage to their reputations,” New
Jersey had a greater interest than Pennsylvania in the application of its laws
to the instant case. Thus, the trial court determined that it should apply
New Jersey’s substantive law of defamation to the instant case.
Appellants note that, under Pennsylvania law, if Appellants are treated
as private rather than public figures (the latter of whom are entitled to less
protection in some jurisdictions), they need only establish CBS’s negligence
to recover. Brief for Appellants at 28 (citing Amer. Future Sys., Inc., v.
Better Bus. Bureau, 923 A.2d 389, 400 (Pa. 2007)). However, under New
Jersey law, whether Appellants are treated as private or public figures, they
must establish “actual malice” to recover for a publication involving a matter
“of public concern.” Id. at 28-29; see Durando v. Nutley Sun, 37 A.3d
449, 457 (N.J. 2012).4 Appellants contend that applying New Jersey law
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4
Appellants appear not to dispute that the Bolger story concerned a
matter “of public concern.” Although arguably they concede more than
(Footnote Continued Next Page)
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would “only make it more difficult for that citizen to obtain redress for the
damage to his reputation. In sum, New Jersey has no interest in either
harming a New Jersey resident or protecting a Pennsylvania broadcaster,
and thus [has] no interest in application of its substantive law here.” Id. at
29.
In this regard, Appellants’ argument is unconvincing. If New Jersey
was inclined to yield to the gentler laws of other jurisdictions when
reputational injury to its own residents was at issue, its law, presumably,
_______________________
(Footnote Continued)
necessary here, their failure to challenge that classification paired with cases
at least suggesting that the case sub judice qualifies warrants our conclusion
that this case, indeed, concerns a matter of public concern. See W.J.A. v.
D.A., 43 A.3d 1148, 1157 (N.J. 2012) (“The actual-malice standard will
apply when the alleged defamatory statement concerns a public figure . . .
or involves a matter of public concern. . . . [T]o determine whether speech
involves a matter of public concern or interest that will trigger the actual-
malice standard, a court should consider the content, form, and context of
the speech. . . . Content requires that we look at the nature and importance
of the speech. . . . Context requires that we look at the identity of the
speaker, his ability to exercise due care, and the identity of the targeted
audience.”); Rocci v. Ecole Secondaire Macdonald-Cartier, 755 A.2d 583
(N.J. 2000) (finding a matter of public concern where a teacher was accused
of misconduct in front of students). Moreover, given Appellants’ emphasis
upon the breadth of their reach, it is not a leap to conclude that they qualify
as public figures. Brief for Appellants at 3 (noting that St. Matthew’s has a
membership of over 11,000 members); Complaint at 3 (through various
programs, “Pastor Gordon spreads the gospel by television, radio, and the
internet to thousands of followers in South Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
New York, and Maryland.”); id. at 7 (“St. Matthew’s is recognized nationally
as a leader in the Baptist faith’s non-charismatic, dispensational, pre-
millennial movement.”). Notably, despite the fact that CBS argues in its
brief that Appellants are public figures, Appellants do not in their reply brief
contest this premise. Consequently, we conclude that New Jersey’s actual
malice standard applies in the instant case.
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would reflect that preference. That is to say, if New Jersey’s government did
not think that its law struck the appropriate balance between free speech
and the protection of reputational interests, the easiest way to fix that would
be to amend its own law. Instead, New Jersey affirmatively chose to raise
the bar for claims of defamation arising in connection with public figures and
matters of public concern to “protect[] the freedom of expression on public
questions guaranteed by the First Amendment.” Hornberger v. Amer.
Broadcasting Cos., Inc., 799 A.2d 566, 578 (N.J. Super. Ct. App.
Div. 2002).5
Appellants also allude to the considerably larger audience in
Pennsylvania, and argue that a state’s interest lies not just in the protection
of the putatively libeled party’s reputation but also in the protection of its
citizens from deception. Id. at 30 (citing Keeton v. Hustler Magazine,
Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 776 (1984)). They argue further that Pennsylvania has
a strong countervailing “interest in establishing uniform defamation
standards for Pennsylvania’s broadcasters.” Id. (citing Davis v. Costa-
Gavras, 580 F. Supp. 1082, 1093 (S.D.N.Y. 1984)).
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5
CBS notes that “New Jersey has strong and explicit policies
encouraging free and open reporting on public figures and matters of public
concern, and it places those policy interests above the ability of its residents
to recover for alleged defamation.” Brief for CBS at 46 (citing, inter alia,
Turf Lawnmower Repair, Inc., v. Bergen Record Corp., 655 A.2d 417,
426 (N.J. 1995)).
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CBS counters by reference to Restatement section 150, which provides
that the law that applies to single-publication defamation claims “usually”
will be determined by the domicile of the alleged victim of the defamation.
Brief of CBS at 43-44. By way of elaborating upon section 150’s direction,
CBS cites Wilson v. Slatalla, 970 F. Supp. 405 (E.D.Pa. 1997), for the
proposition that “[t]he state of plaintiff’s domicile generally has the greatest
concern in vindicating plaintiff’s good name and providing compensation for
harm caused by the defamatory publication.” Id. at 414. In further
support, CBS cites Miller v. Gay, 470 A.2d 1353 (Pa. Super. 1983), for the
proposition that “inhabitants of a state (here Delaware) should not be
accorded rights not given them by their home states, just because a visitor
from a state offering higher protection decides to visit there.” Brief of CBS
at 46 (quoting Miller, 470 A.2d at 1356). We agree with the trial court’s
reasoning and CBS’s argument. Consequently, we find that New Jersey’s
law of defamation properly was applied to this case.
That brings us to Appellants’ second and third issues, which
collectively challenge the trial court’s determination as a matter of law that
Appellants could not recover for defamation. Defamation is a statement that
is “false, communicated to a third person, and tends to lower the subject’s
reputation in the estimation of the community.” Hornberger, 799 A.2d
at 578 (internal quotation marks omitted). Under New Jersey law, “[t]he
threshold issue in any defamation case is whether the statement at issue is
reasonably susceptible of a defamatory meaning,” a question that must be
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decided by the court as a matter of law. Romaine v. Kallinger, 537 A.2d
284, 288 (N.J. 1988). “[T]he court must evaluate the language in question
according to the fair and natural meaning which will be given it by
reasonable persons of ordinary intelligence. In assessing the language, the
court must view the publication as a whole and consider particularly the
context in which the statement appears.” Id. (internal quotation marks
omitted); see Taj Mahal Travel, Inc., v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 164 F.3d
186, 189 (3d Cir. 1998) (reviewing New Jersey law: “A court must look to
the ‘fair and natural meaning which will be given it by reasonable persons of
ordinary intelligence’ and examine the publication as a whole and in
context.” (quoting Romaine, 537 A.2d at 288)). “Only if the language is
ambiguous in the sense of being reasonably subject to either an innocent or
a defamatory meaning, as determined by the court, does the jury decide as
a question of fact whether the readers of the publication understood the
language in its defamatory sense.” Hermann v. Newark Morning Ledger
Co., 138 A.2d 61, 66 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1958); cf. Hornberger, 799
A.2d at 578 (“[S]ummary judgment is favored in defamation cases to
encourage comment on matters of public concern.”).
Appellants do not contest that the circumstances underlying their
defamation claim pertained to a matter of public concern. Thus, in order to
survive summary judgment they not only must establish that an average
viewer might reasonably infer from the broadcast that Pastor Gordon and/or
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St. Matthew’s were involved in Bolger’s alleged criminal conduct, but also
that CBS acted with actual malice in its reporting.
Actual malice is defined similarly under federal and state law.
See Rocci v. Ecole Secondaire Macdonald–Cartier, 755 A.2d
583 (N.J. 2000) (treating common-law actual malice and
constitutional actual malice synonymously). In a speech-based
tort case involving a media defendant, “a plaintiff must establish
that the publisher knew the statement to be false or acted in
reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.” Dairy Stores, Inc., v.
Sentinel Pub. Co., Inc., 516 A.2d 220, 233 (N.J. 1986);
accord New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 279-
80 (1964). . . .
The reckless-disregard-for-the-truth prong has been defined in a
variety of different ways, but the core principle has remained
constant: establishing reckless disregard requires a showing that
the defendant made the statement with a “high degree of
awareness of [its] probable falsity.” Garrison v. Louisiana,
379 U.S. 64, 74 (1964). The test is subjective, not objective,
and involves analyzing the thought processes of the particular
defendant . . . . See Costello v. Ocean Cnty. Observer, 643
A.2d 1012 (N.J. 1994). . . . [T]o prove reckless disregard, there
must be sufficient evidence that the named “defendant in fact
entertained serious doubts as to the truth of the publication.”
Id.
That an editor or reporter “should have known” or “should have
doubted [the] accuracy” of an article before publishing it is
insufficient to show reckless disregard for the truth. Lawrence
v. Bauer Publ'g & Printing Ltd., 446 A.2d 469, 477 (N.J.
1982). Thus, the actual-malice test will shield careless acts of
publication that would be considered irresponsible by common
journalistic standards. Id. . . .
To act with reckless disregard of the truth, a defendant must
“actually doubt” the veracity of the article. Lawrence, supra.
Only “[i]f the recklessness approaches the level of publishing a
knowing, calculated falsehood,” based on the summary-
judgment record, should the case go to the jury. Maressa v.
N.J. Monthly, 445 A.2d 376, 389 (N.J. 1982).
Durando, 37 A.3d at 459 (citations modified).
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In their complaint, Appellants alleged that CBS’s report led “members
of St. Matthew’s congregation, local officials, and countless others
throughout [CBS’s] broadcast region [to believe] that Pastor Gordon had
been arrested for or was somehow involved in Bolger’s alleged criminal
sexual assault.” Complaint at 4. Similarly, Appellants allege that CBS
“falsely, recklessly, and maliciously broadcast a report that led countless
viewers to believe that Bolger’s alleged criminal sexual assault involved St.
Matthew’s and, even more perniciously, that Pastor Gordon was the
perpetrator of or was somehow involved in Bolger’s alleged crimes.” Id. at
13. “CBS[’s] false and defamatory report of Bolger’s arrest . . . caused
viewers to conclude that Pastor Gordon is a criminal pedophile whose victims
potentially extended to other members of St. Matthew’s congregation, or
that Pastor Gordon was somehow involved in Bolger’s alleged crimes.” Id.
Ultimately, whether these allegations, in tandem with the evidence
obtained in discovery, sufficed to create a jury question hinges upon
(1) whether, in the context of the entire broadcast, one or more “countless
viewers” reasonably could believe that the broadcast implicated Pastor
Gordon and St. Matthew’s in the criminal conduct of which Bolger was
accused, and, if so, (2) whether Appellants made out a prima facie case that
CBS acted with the “actual malice” required by New Jersey law.
The trial court did not address actual malice directly. Instead, it
concluded that the broadcast, viewed as a whole, was materially true and
could not have defamatory meaning as a matter of law, a sufficient basis to
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enter summary judgment even if CBS’s actions were evaluated under the
ordinary negligence standard that applies to defamation claims raised
against private parties on matters not of public concern:
[Appellants] argue that a reasonable viewer could watch the
broadcast and conclude that Pastor Gordon was arrested for
child molestation. [Appellants] base this argument on one
utterance of the word “Pastor” by news anchor Natasha Brown
and two instances where Pastor Gordon’s name appears on the
screen because his name is written on the church sign and the
church van that are in the footage taken of St. Matthew’s
exterior. With respect to St. Matthew’s, [Appellants] argue that
it suffered the same damages as Pastor Gordon because its
reputation hinges on the reputation of Pastor Gordon and
because the broadcast suggested some connection between
Bolger’s crime and St. Matthew’s.
Viewing the broadcast as a whole, it is impossible to conclude
that any person could walk away thinking that Pastor Gordon
had been arrested. Archie Bolger’s name is uttered repeatedly.
It appears in writing on the screen repeatedly. Multiple pictures
of Bolger are shown. A picture of Bolger’s home is shown. . . .
Pastor Gordon’s name appears twice in writing in the broadcast;
neither of these appearances are a result of CBS typing Gordon’s
name onto a screenshot like it did with Bolger’s name numerous
times. . . . A reasonable viewer, therefore, would not conclude
that Pastor Gordon was a child molester, but that Pastor
Gordon’s name happened to appear wherever St. Matthew’s was
advertised because he decided to put his name in several places
on church property that are meant for the public to see.
On the sole occasion [when] Brown utters the word “Pastor[,”]
the utterance is accompanied by a screen shot that includes the
phrase “PREACHER ARRESTED” superimposed on a map of part
of South Jersey. Neither Brown nor anyone else during the
broadcast say[s] “Pastor Gordon” or “Dr. Gordon” or “Raymond
Gordon” or otherwise use[s] Pastor Gordon’s name.
****
Taken as a whole, the broadcast is not a substantial and material
factual deviation from the truth, as it relates to both the Pastor
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and to the church. No phrase in the broadcast was untrue as it
related to St. Matthew’s. While being mentioned in a report
about an accused child molester is perhaps not exactly the kind
of publicity a church craves, mere mention that Bolger was a
preacher at the church does not amount to defamation; if
anything, as [CBS] notes, CBS’s mention that Bolger’s victim
was not a member of the congregation served to further distance
the church from the allegations and reinforce the idea that St.
Matthew’s was only mentioned in the context of providing
biographical facts about Bolger. As to Pastor Gordon, as
discussed above, when the broadcast is viewed in context, it is
both materially true and does not suggest that Pastor Gordon
had any involvement in Bolger’s criminal activity at all.
T.C.O. at 5-7 (emphasis in original).
Appellants contend that the trial court overlooked “critical points—
particularly with respect to the majority of the [b]roadcast’s viewers who
had never seen or heard of Pastor Gordon.” Brief for Appellants at 19.
Appellants also note correctly that Bolger’s name neither was stated nor
appeared on the screen until over one minute into the broadcast.6
Appellants argue that the repeated references to Bolger as “pastor” or
“preacher” created a misapprehension that was not materially offset by the
eventual broadcast of a photo of Bolger or video taken from outside Bolger’s
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6
In a gesture typical of television news broadcasts, but arguably
inconsistent with journalistic norms (i.e., the “inverted pyramid,” which
refers to a method of reporting that foregrounds the most important
information at the “top” of a news story), neither Pastor Gordon’s nor
Bolger’s name appeared until the second half of the report. Pastor Gordon’s
name appeared on the church sign one minute and three seconds into the
broadcast, again on the side of the church van at 1:09 of the broadcast, and
Bolger’s photo appeared at 1:16 closely followed by the reporter’s
identification of Bolger by name at 1:18.
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private residence: “[T]he vast multitude of viewers . . . had never heard of
Pastor Gordon, and thus neither knew what his home looked like or where
he lived.” Id.
Appellants also contest the trial court’s finding as a matter of law that
“when the broadcast is viewed in context, it is both materially true and does
not suggest that Pastor Gordon had any involvement in Bolger’s criminal
activity at all.” T.C.O. at 6. “[I]n describing the person arrested for criminal
sexual assault as ‘[t]he Pastor [who] works at St. Matthew’s Baptist
Church,’” Appellants contend, “Natasha Brown used words that were
unquestionably false and defamatory.” Brief for Appellants at 21.7
Appellants maintain that, for the foregoing reasons, the trial court
overstepped its bounds in determining that no reasonable viewer could glean
from this report that Pastor Gordon was, in fact, the individual arrested for
sexually assaulting a child.
Regarding St. Matthew’s, Appellants emphasize that defamation of an
entity’s principals may “reflect discredit upon the method by which the
corporation conducts its business.” Brief for Appellants at 26 (quoting
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 561). Begging the question at hand, they
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7
To the extent the formal definition of “pastor” is employed as
Appellants maintain, Brown on this one occasion did misuse the term in
reference to Bolger. As well, referring to Bolger as “working” at
St. Matthew’s is inaccurate, or at least misleading, because Bolger’s
evidently occasional service as a “preacher” never rose to the level of
employment.
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argue that “the [b]roadcast identified St. Matthew’s one and only Pastor as
an alleged criminal pedophile,” such that “viewers quite reasonably
concluded that . . . St. Matthew’s had some role in the alleged crime.” Id.
at 27. They submit that Pastor Gordon’s “name is synonymous with St.
Matthew’s, and any aspersion on Pastor Gordon’s character . . . plainly casts
aspersion[s] on how St. Matthew’s conducts its Church and its ministry.”
Id. at 27-28.
As the trial court observed, Appellants’ arguments ultimately depend
upon a fine-grained parsing of excerpts of the broadcast to rebut the trial
court’s finding of material truth taken from the context of the entire
broadcast. This Court would be hard-pressed to dispute that the broadcast
was sloppy, not least in its interchangeable usage of “pastor” and
“preacher.” But the trial court was not bound to evaluate the content or
tone of CBS’s report based upon an inattentive viewer, and Appellants
provide no argument to that effect. Rather, the trial court was bound to ask
whether an average person of ordinary intelligence reasonably could have
believed, after watching the entire report, that Pastor Gordon was the
suspect charged or that Pastor Gordon or St. Matthew’s were implicated in
the suspected criminal activity, rather than peripherally connected to the
suspected criminal.
We have carefully reviewed the CBS broadcast in its entirety. We also
have reviewed the legal authorities cited by Appellants in support of their
appeal, and find that none of them are controlling—trivially because they
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were not decided by New Jersey courts, and more broadly because none of
them present apposite fact patterns. See Brief for Appellants at 15-18. We
acknowledge that the report featured an arguably disproportionate focus
upon St. Matthew’s, insofar as the church occupied the screen and was
repeatedly referred to by name by the reporters more or less throughout the
first minute of the report, during which no one uttered Pastor Gordon’s or
Bolger’s name and neither Pastor Gordon’s nor Bolger’s name or likeness
appeared on the screen in any way. We also must acknowledge, however,
that Bolger’s undisputed affiliation with St. Matthew’s contributed to the
story’s newsworthiness, and it was not unreasonable for CBS to highlight
that connection. When St. Matthew’s, presumably through the agency of
Pastor Gordon, elevated Bolger to the position of preacher, it exposed St.
Matthew’s, and thus Pastor Gordon, to negative publicity in the event that
Bolger was alleged to have acted criminally toward a minor.
Stripped to its essential content, CBS’s broadcast identified one and
only one person as a suspected sexual assailant, and that person was not
Pastor Gordon. The broadcast accurately identified Bolger as a member of
St. Matthew’s and accurately stated that he had served St. Matthew’s as a
preacher. And that one reporter referred once to Bolger as “Pastor” amid
numerous references throughout the broadcast to Bolger as “preacher,”
would have been outweighed for an average viewer by the references to
Pastor Gordon in St. Matthew’s signage, upon which Appellants base their
defamation claim. In arguing that a reasonable viewer of ordinary
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intelligence could conclude that Pastor Gordon was implicated in the criminal
activity due to the allegedly prominent appearance of his identification on St.
Matthew’s sign and van that were pictured in the report, Appellants
essentially forfeit their argument that an average viewer reasonably could
have concluded that Bolger, in fact, was the “pastor” at St. Matthew’s.8
The incidental inaccuracies in CBS’s broadcast, see infra n.7, were
cured for an average viewer who viewed the report in its entirety, at the
conclusion of which no viewer of ordinary intelligence reasonably could have
concluded that Pastor Gordon had been arrested in connection with, or was
complicit in, Bolger’s alleged criminal activity. If such a viewer had
concluded that Pastor Gordon or St. Matthew’s was complicit, that conclusion
would have been a product of conjecture and inference arising not from
CBS’s reporting but from the fact that the inevitably brief report 9 concerning
the breaking story did not conclusively state otherwise. Moreover,
____________________________________________
8
In putting so much stock in the effect upon a reasonable viewer of
referring once to Bolger as “Pastor,” Appellants appear to impute to the
majority of viewers who were not Baptists particular knowledge of Baptist
tradition. However, if the average viewer does not appreciate the
distinction, and tends to conflate “preacher” and “pastor,” then it does not
matter whether the reporters used one title or the other. If that is the case,
Appellants’ argument leads to a circumstance where a reporter cannot
report, even if truthfully, that Bolger had served St. Matthew’s as a
preacher; only by omitting that fact entirely could the reporter ensure that
an average viewer would not mistakenly conclude that Bolger led the St.
Matthew’s congregation. That is a patently untenable result.
9
There is seldom any other kind on half-hour broadcast evening news
programs.
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notwithstanding the prominent placement of St. Matthew’s in the broadcast,
and the reporters’ perhaps unnecessarily emphatic references to Bolger’s
affiliation with that church, the reason for foregrounding St. Matthew’s was
clear in context: Bolger once had occupied a prominent position in a very
prominent congregation, or at least a position in some sense more
conspicuous than the vast majority of St. Matthew’s thousands of
congregants. We sympathize with the negative publicity that descended
upon Pastor Gordon and his church, but people and institutions frequently
are besmirched by their affiliations in ways that are not actionable, and this
appears to be such a case. We are constrained to conclude that the trial
court did not err in granting summary judgment to CBS in this matter.
Our conclusion in this regard does not require us to entertain the
question whether Appellants set forth a prima facie claim adequate to satisfy
New Jersey’s requirement that a reporter act with actual malice to enable
recovery for defamation by a public figure in the context of a matter of
public concern, because Appellants have failed to establish even ordinary
negligence. Had they established a material falsehood, however, we would
conclude that the trial court did not err in finding that Appellants failed to
proffer sufficient evidence based upon which a jury might conclude that CBS
“actually doubt[ed] the veracity of the article,” or that CBS’s recklessness
“approache[d] the level of publishing a knowing, calculated falsehood.”
Durando, 37 A.3d at 459 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Judgment affirmed.
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Judge Donohue joins the memorandum.
Judge Platt concurs in the result.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 12/8/2014
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