"Opening the Pandora's box": Were the American media guilty of negligence in disclosing Tiananmen protestors' identities?

Abstract

This paper examines a legal issue stemming from the American media's coverage of the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing. A review of the four elements of negligence and the balancing approach in previous court decisions shows that a cause of action could be established to hold some U.S. media liable for negligence in disclosing the identities of the protestors and subsequently in causing severe harm by making them vulnerable to persecution and arrests. Such litigations could have serious legal and ethical implications for media that engage in international communication, and also add to the complexity of media negligence tort in an international context.