Public Figures vs Private Figures

In a series of posts I've discussed public figures.  Below is a listing of examples of who might be classified as public officials, public figures, limited purpose public figures and private figures.  

This is only for general purposes.  Courts may differ on how they will treat some of these people.

Public official:

• President
• Senator
• Congressman
• Secretary of State
• Mayor
• Governor
• Judge
• School superintendent
• City Council Member
• State Legislator  

Public figure (generally takes voluntary conduct to project one's self into public domain):

• Political candidate
• Movie or television star
• National news anchor or commentator
• Head of NRA
• Superstar athlete (Tiger Woods, LeBron James)
• Miss Universe

Limited Purpose Public Figure (generally requires voluntarily injecting one's self into a public issue).

• Business leader
• Average professional athlete.
• College basketball coach
• Community activist
• School principal
• Best selling author (although courts may find some are public figures).
• Public protester

Private figures (generally, does not voluntarily inject one's self into public issue)

• Your neighbor with a barking dog
• Criminal defendant (may vary by state - some may find defendant is a limited purpose public figure)
• Party to a lawsuit 
• Victim of a crime
• School teacher
• Local business owner (but may become a limited purpose public figure for some actions related to his services to the public)

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pensiero/102059395/">Pensiero</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>