Editor Ralph Ginzburg Year founded 1964 Final issue August 1967 | Frequency Quarterly First issue January 1964 Country USA | |
Fact Magazine was an American quarterly publication that commented on controversial topics. It was in circulation between January 1964 and August 1967.
History
Edited by Ralph Ginzburg and Warren Boroson, the magazine was notable for having been sued by Barry Goldwater over a 1964 issue entitled "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater". In Goldwater v. Ginzburg, a federal jury awarded Goldwater $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages, to punish Ginzburg and the magazine for being reckless. The American Psychiatric Association then issued the Goldwater rule reaffirming medical privacy and forbidding commenting on a patient whom the individual psychiatrist has not personally examined.
The United States Court of Appeals affirmed the award and the Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari (review); Justices Black and Justice Douglas joined a dissenting opinion, rather unusual at the time (1970) on orders denying "cert."