A few journalists warned of the decision’s “chilling effect” on news gathering, but they should be more worried about making dumb deals with cops. This case started in 1992 when a Secret Service agent invited a CBS crew from the now defunct “Street Stories” news magazine to go along on a raid of a Brooklyn apartment in a search for credit-card fraud. While agents, armed with a warrant, searched the home of Tawa Ayeni, the CBS crew freely videotaped. Ayeni protested, covering her face and her 4-year-old son’s with a magazine. The target of the probe, her husband, Babatunde, wasn’t home.
The footage never aired but Mrs. Ayeni sued for invasion of privacy. The appeals court agreed, saying the Secret Service had no right to allow the CBS crew – or any unauthorized law-enforcement person – to enter a private home. The panel held the Secret Service agent liable for potential damages. CBS settled the case for an undisclosed amount earlier this year. That was prudent: this 1990s version of candid camera wasn’t very funny.
