and deprives him of their society. It is not necessary that words impute disgraceful conduct to the plaintiff. If they render him contemptible or ridiculous, he is equally entitled to redress.
153 In Ettingshausen v Australian Consolidated Press Ltd (1991) NSWLR 443, the plaintiff, a then well-known footballer, was shown in a photograph published in the defendant's magazine. The photograph was capable of being interpreted as showing his genitals. Hunt J held that the matter complained of was capable of conveying an imputation that the plaintiff is a person whose genitals have been exposed to the readers of the defendant's magazine, a publication with a widespread readership, and that imputation was capable of defaming the plaintiff.
154 In the course of his reasons, Hunt J referred to and quoted from a decision of Judge Learned Hand in Burton v Crowell Pub Co 82 F (2d) 154 (1936). In that case, Mr Burton, a widely known steeplechaser, agreed to pose for photographs to be used in advertisements for a cigarette company. One published photograph represented him coming from a race to be weighed in, carrying his saddle in front of him. A white girth was suspended from the saddle but, because of the angle at which the photograph was taken and because the photograph was slightly blurred at this point, the girth appeared to be attached to the plaintiff and not to the saddle. Judge Hand, for the court, described the effect of the photograph as "grotesque, monstrous and obscene". It was held that, because the matter complained of was calculated to expose Mr Burton to more than trivial ridicule, it was prima facie actionable, despite the fact that it asserted nothing about the plaintiff himself and notwithstanding that the impression which it conveyed (that the plaintiff had exposed his penis) was obviously an optical illusion. Relevantly, Judge Hand said:
Had such a picture been deliberately produced, surely every right-minded person would agree that he would have had a genuine grievance; and the effect is the same whether it is deliberate or not. Such a caricature affects a man's reputation, if by that is meant his position in the minds of others; the association so established may be beyond repair; he may become known indefinitely as the absurd victim of this unhappy mischance. Literally, therefore, the injury falls within the accepted rubric; it exposes the sufferer to 'ridicule' and 'contempt'.
155 Dr Collins relied on that passage from Judge Hand's opinion as follows:
And we submit that's what happened to Mr Greenwich here. By the reductionist caricature of Mr Greenwich, a Member of Parliament, to a sex act involving faeces, Mr Latham created a caricature which is apt to establish an association that damages Mr Greenwich's standing …
156 Mr Latham did not squarely confront the question of whether, assuming the first imputation of the primary tweet to be conveyed (that is, that Mr Greenwich engages in disgusting sexual
