Kennedy Rape Media Ban

• Date 1985 - Present

• Location USA

• Subject Political/Economic/Social Opinion

• Medium Television & Print journalism & Radio

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• Artist/Author/Producer A Boca Raton tabloid

• Confronting Bodies Florida State Government

• Dates of action 1991

• Location Boca Raton, Florida

Description of the Art Work

The Boca Raton tabloid published the name of Patricia Bowman shortly after she accused William Kennedy Smith of rape in 1991.

Description of incident

A Florida State Appeals court ruled the tabloid could not be persecuted for publishing the rape victim's name. The court ruled that a 1911 law making it a crime to publish or broadcast the names of rape victims violates the First Amendment. The Fourth District Court of Appeals in West Palm Beach conceded that the concerns about victims safety from retaliation and the need to encourage the reporting of sex offenses were legitimate, but did not justify censorship.

Results of incident

The ruling was based largely on a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the Florida Star, a Jacksonville newspaper that was sued for libel after it inadvertently published a rape victim's name. The Supreme Court threw out a $100,000 judgment against the paper, but left the rape shield law intact. The rape shield law was overturned

Record no 43