Lawsuit of the Day: Involuntary Poster Child for ‘Sexting’ Sues Hearst
How would you like to be the unofficial mascot for that dubious practice known as “sexting”? From ATL associate editor Kashmir Hill, writing over at True/Slant:
Earlier this year, the media went crazy over “sexting.” It has all the elements of a great, salacious, audience-attracting story: flirtation, cell phones, nude photos, and oftentimes, teens….
One of the stations which ran a series of these stories is WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station repeatedly used a photo of a cell phone with a text to Joanna Argus saying “Hey baby, I got what you want.”
Joanna Argus, an Ohio woman in her late twenties who works as a fundraising consultant, found out about this for the first time when one of her clients called to ask about it. She was shocked, confused, and worried about who else would see it. She complained to the station, and the station’s manager promised it would not happen again. But it did happen again: at least six times over nine months, and was also used as the image for a presentation to a group of high schoolers on the dangers of sexting.
Oy. Argus is now suing the Hearst Corporation, the media conglomerate which owns the television station, for invasion of privacy, defamation, emotional distress, and negligence. (Recent bar exam candidates: feel free to break it down, in the comments.)
We’ll do our part to undo the reputational damage. If you happen to come across her name or photo, or if you meet her in person, please know that poor Joanna Argus has nothing to do with “sexting.”
A reputation nightmare: Becoming the ‘sexting’ mascot [True/Slant]
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Comments
First
What a pervert. What is a 20 something year old woman doing sexting with teens?
And don't expect me to have actually read the article to find out whether she did it or not.
slow news day, can we get some layoffs?
WHO
CARES
FIRST to say I'd be happy to give Joanna Argus "what she wants!!"
Well played, 2.
In 2002, I graduated second to last in my class (401/403) from UC Hastings.
Should I bother signing up for Order of the Coif? Any thoughts on the practical value of yet another law school honor and line on a resume.
I woudn't mind sexting her!
I would rather Kash write about these things. Lat writing about sex makes me cringe and conjures up images of weird sweaty gay Philipino sex.
I hate that.
late 20s my ass
Guys at my high school used to sext Joanna Argus all the time.
It was no big deal.
How can it be defamation? I don't see the claim.
Invasion of privacy, maybe.
13 = idiot
What the f$%^ is going on at ATL? The author of the BOA/Merril Lynch story (with the typo in the headline) was changed from Lat to Mystal, the typo remains, and Mystal is otherwise absent.....
Don't get me wrong, I like Lat and find his analytical and snark skills quite enjoyable, but I have to agree with 10. Please reserve these types of posts for Kash.
Wait...so what they used was a photo "of a cell phone" with that message on it...where exactly does Joanna fit in? Was her name on the picture "of a cell phone"...her telephone number...what? I'm smelling an editing error somewhere.
Why did they choose her pic? Sounds like someone had a motive over a bad breakup.
Angry sweaty weird Philippino gay sex? Is there any other kind?
Smelly Mystal
The BOA piece does not have a typo in the headline. It is a play on a Japanese video game which used the same error when you lost.
Holy $&@! First of all, let me say, I'm friends with Joanna. Second of all, I was shocked to find her on this website, which I come to daily as I'm a lawyer. Third, I can assure you Joanna was doing nothing dirty here. Maybe someone sent improper texts to her, maybe it was a joke.
21 = person who tipped off Kash about the story
She could sext me. You know....if she's into that kinda thing.
They are definately going to introduce these comments at trial as evidence. With that in mind, she should get punitives. Huge punitives. Dolly Parton size punitives.
21 is the sexter to Joanna. BUSTED.
And now his wife knows too.
21 here. No I didn't tip anyone off on this story. Was shocked as heck to see my friend's picture on here. Anyway, after reading the story, I'm friends with both the employee for WLWT and Joanna. WLWT obviously went way overboard here. The employee was just trying to help the station understand the issue but WLWT took it and improperly used the text. I'm surprised the suit was only for $25K.
Below is the explanation as to how this got started, by a 'friend' in TV who did the following to explain what sexting was to his dimwitted editors. I'm calling TOTAL BS. Just because someone is a fundraiser doens't make her a virgin. This babe was sexting and got busted. Big deal. It's what all the kids are doing.
"Argus’s lawyer, Michael Lyon, told me that an employee at the station is a good friend of Argus’s, with their friendship dating back to third grade. When the station decided to cover the sexting phenomenon, some newscasters didn’t understand exactly what sexting was. The friend decided to send Argus a few sexting texts as a joke between them and as an example for his co-workers."
Is there anyone else here who would like to see Kash sext with Argus?
21-- Read the article from true/slant. The text was sent by a friend of hers who worked at the station so that the friend could show his coworkers what "sexting" is.
17-- It was a picture of the sender's cell-phone screen with the text open. The text presumably would have had a heading like "To: Joanna Argus."
@21 - Would you let me sext you in the ass?
Skadden Secure
okay, i'm the dumbass. i still don't get it and i don't really know what sexting is. do there have to be pictures involved or can it be just words? and if it's just words, why is it called sexting v. texting? isn't text the primary mode by which people carry on all sorts of relationships these days? not a texter myself at all, but it seems this way. i know i'm about to be railed, but i'm also interested in honest answers to my questions as well.
31 - don't flatter yourself. You wouldn't get railed in a train station.
You guys complaining that Lat wrote this are morons. It's basically an ad for the website on which Kash's column appears. Lat wrote this so the "product placement" wouldn't seem so obvious
You guys complaining that Lat wrote this are morons. It's basically an ad for the website on which Kash's column appears. Lat wrote this so the "product placement" wouldn't seem so obvious
I'm sorry, how dense do you have to be to not understand what sexting is? No, 31, this isn't directed at you, but why do you need to send someone a sexually explicit text for people to understand that sending someone a sexually explicit text is called sexting? This ain't rocket science.
Blank Rome just settled a legal malpractice suit for $20 million. What do you expect when your managing partner is seventeen years old?
32: zing!
Since this was in Cincinnati, didn't this actually occur 20 years ago?
3 - OK, you're fired. Pack your shit and get out.
Joanna needs some FB friends. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/joanna.argus?hiq=joanna%2Cargus&ref=search&__a=1
Mitchell Goosen at your service. Don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Don't care. As long as I live near the beach and don't have to wear a tie. Then I'll be stylin'.
"St-st-stylin?"
Let me tell you about stylin'. I'm talkin', the perfect A-frame wave spittin' salt water in your face. I call it 'liquid draino, wanna be bullwinkle', I tell you no lies, my friends. It's the consciousness.
38--We've always been on the cutting-edge of minor perversions. Whodey.
This never would have happened at WKRP in Cincinnati.
Kashmir should look into spelling CINCINNATI correctly if it's going to be used 3-4 times in an article. Spellcheck, hello! Or how about a two-second Google search? Or even, gasp, looking at the station's site she's writing about???
thanks 32, i still don't know what the hell sexting is. why does telling someone all kinds of stuff you want to do to them sexually over text need its own word? seems really f'ing stupid to me.
35 - The reason the newscasters needed an example to understand what is an incredibly simple concept is because they are from OHIO.
Go Blue!
46 just finished whacking off to himself in the mirror. This was the third time today, which puts him slightly behind the curve for average Wolverines. He thinks it's okay despite his burgeoning BMI because his mom says he handsome. She is the only one who returns his calls. This puts him slightly ahead of the curve for number of non-Michigan friends among his graduating class.
Not OSU, just honest. You're right there with Cornell for insecurely tooting your own horn at every turn.
20, it was called Zerowing, and it didn't play when you lost, it was a cinematic transition.
why do people here always assume posters are MEN??????? now, instead of the race card, it's definitely time to start playing the sex card, pardon the pun.
Hey Baby - I definately got what YOU WANT!
The Sheriff
It's hard to keep my eyes on the road while I'm sexting.
I can just imagine the news director going apeshit right about now. This chick deserves a boatload of cash!!!
She only wants $25,000? If I were on that jury, I'd award her $1,000,000 just to teach Hearst a lesson. What probably started out as an honest mistake on Hearst's part morphed into deliberate negligence when they failed to remove her name after numerous requests & continued to run additional segments featuring an innocent individual that was in no way connected to the story. A small fine or small award would just encourage large media conglomerates like Hearst to continue being reckless with their coverage. I sincerely hope this one goes to trial. Hearst needs to be hurt in the only place that truelly counts - their thick pocketbook.