ABSTRACT
The press is overstepping in every direction the obvious bounds of propriety and decency. Gossip is no longer the resource of the idle and of the vicious, but has become a trade, which is pursued with industry as well as effrontery. Related to the right of privacy is the right to the integrity of one's reputation, accomplished through the law of libel and slander. This law protects a person from injury which would follow from a lowering of his prestige in the community by oral or written communication, subjecting him to ridicule, hatred, or contempt, and thereby injuring him in his business, profession, or vocation. A libel directed at a group may form the foundation of an action by an individual if the group is small enough so that a person reading the article may readily identify the person as one of the group.
