EDITORIAL – The law defines a public figure as a person, such as a politician, celebrity, or business leader, who has a certain social position within a certain scope and a significant influence on society or a person who has thrust themselves to the forefront of particular public controversies to influence the resolution of the issues involved.
As the publisher of Big Valley News, I recognize that I have voluntarily placed myself in the position of a public figure. If I didn’t want to be in the public spotlight, I should have probably picked a different line of work. There are others in our community that take to the podiums at public meetings, such as county board of supervisors, school boards, or city councils, and share their opinions or criticize our elected officials. Those people are also public figures and hopefully, they all gave thought ahead of time to what it means to choose to spend time in the public spotlight.