534
Opinion of the Court
of the First Amendment because it imposes sanctions on the publication of truthful information of public concern.
In these cases, privacy concerns give way when balanced against the interest in publishing matters of public importance. As Warren and Brandeis stated in their classic law review article: "The right of privacy does not prohibit any publication of matter which is of public or general interest." The Right to Privacy, 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193, 214 (1890). One of the costs associated with participation in public affairs is an attendant loss of privacy.
"Exposure of the self to others in varying degrees is a concomitant of life in a civilized community. The risk of this exposure is an essential incident of life in a society which places a primary value on freedom of speech and of press. 'Freedom of discussion, if it would fulfill its historic function in this nation, must embrace all issues about which information is needed or appropriate to enable the members of society to cope with the exigencies of their period.' " Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U. S., at 388 (quoting Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U. S. 88, 102 (1940)).21
Our opinion in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (1964), reviewed many of the decisions that settled the "general proposition that freedom of expression upon public questions is secured by the First Amendment." Id., at 269; see Roth v. United States, 354 U. S. 476, 484 (1957); Bridges v. California, 314 U. S. 252, 270 (1941); Stromberg v. California, 283 U. S. 359, 369 (1931). Those cases all relied on our "profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open," New York Times, 376 U. S., at 270; see Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U. S. 1, 4 (1949); De Jonge v. Oregon,
21 Moreover, "our decisions establish that absent exceptional circumstances, reputational interests alone cannot justify the proscription of truthful speech." Butterworth v. Smith, 494 U. S. 624, 634 (1990).
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