High Court Gives Mixed Ruling
On Invasion Of Ranch By Media

WASHINGTON —(AP)— The Supreme Court left in doubt recently the fate of a lawsuit accusing Cable News Network of violating a Montana couple's privacy rights because its camera crew accompanied federal agents who raided their ranch.

The justices rejected, without comment, a CNN appeal of a federal appeals court ruling that said the network should have to defend itself at trial.

Just the week before, the justices threw out the Montana couple's lawsuit against the federal agents who agreed to let CNN accompany them on the 1993 raid. The court ruled that the federal officers cannot be sued because it was not clearly established in 1993 that allowing such news media access was unlawful.

Logic would seem to dictate that CNN, too, should be protected against being sued, media defenders have argued. But a 1992 Supreme Court decision complicates matters. In that ruling, the court made it easier to sue private citizens accused of acting with government agents to violate someone's rights.

Private citizens do not enjoy the same ``qualified immunity'' when violating a right that was not yet clearly established, the court said then, because ``the public interest will not be unduly impaired if private individuals are required to proceed to trial.''

Where does that leave CNN? ``The short answer is `I don't know the answer,''' said Lee Levine, a Washington lawyer who filed a friend-of-the-court brief for a coalition of news organizations in the Montana case.

A spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based network said CNN does not comment on pending litigation.

``We're still celebrating,'' said Henry Rossbacher, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the Montana couple. ``Now that the Supreme Court has denied review, we anticipate this case soon will go to trial.''

The justices ruled earlier in the current session week that police violate people's privacy rights when they bring TV camera crews and other journalists into homes during arrests or searches. The court ruled unanimously that police who allow such access can be sued for violating the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

But the court also said that violation of privacy rights was not obvious in 1993 and ordered the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to restudy the Montana case.

CNN could be expected to argue the decision scuttled the entire case — against the federal agents and the network.

While the decision made clear that police can be held financially responsible for such incidents in the future, it remains undecided whether news media organizations also can be held liable.

Only governmental action — not acts by private citizens or companies — can violate someone's constitutional rights such as the Fourth Amendment's privacy protections. But private citizens and companies can be deemed to have been governmental agents under certain circumstances.

The 9th Circuit court ruled in the Montana case that CNN should be considered a government agent because it engaged in a ``joint action'' — one carried out ``for the mutual benefit of both the private interests of the media and the government officials' interest in publicity.''

CNN's appeal said the ruling ``will result in less public scrutiny of government functions'' and ``raises important First Amendment issues.'' The amendment protects freedom of the press.

``Journalists pursuing news for independent, professional purposes do not act under color of law, even when their news-gathering activities inherently involve making arrangements with government officials,'' the appeal argued.

The Supreme Court's rejection of the appeal left intact the appeals court ruling as a legal precedent in nine Western states.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents raided the 75,000-acre ranch of Paul and Erma Berger after obtaining a search warrant to look for evidence that they were poisoning wildlife.

The government suspected the Bergers were using pesticides to poison officially "endangered" species such as eagles to protect their central Montana ranch's livestock from predators.

As a result of the raid, Paul Berger was charged with violating federal laws that protect eagles. But a trial jury acquitted him of all charges except improper use of a pesticide, a misdemeanor.

After Berger's trial, CNN used portions of its footage of the search on the environmental news programs ``Earth Matters'' and ``Network Earth'' as part of its coverage of government efforts to protect endangered species.