Letterman screws staffers, saves $2million

[Drake Tungsten]

I like my talk show hosts to not give a **** if people like them.

Everyone liked Johnny Carson.

[rah]

Good point

[rah]

But back on topic.
If blackmail wasn't illegal then every affair gone bad could end up as a grab for money.
And there would probably be more entrapment type affairs.
Yes, they could still sell to the papers, but the market value would be so low that it wouldn't be worth the effort in most cases.
I'll admit that your questions made me really think if there was a difference, but I still think there is.

[Drake Tungsten]

Watch as Carson reduces Letterman to a star-struck fanboy on Letterman's own show...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Letterman was Carson's pick to replace him on the Tonight Show

[Asher]

Johnny Carson much preferred Letterman.

[Drake Tungsten]

Letterman was kind of funny back then. Then again, so was Leno.

edit: Jesus, look at that set...

[Drake Tungsten]

Wow. Leno makes fun of Airbus a decade before Asher...

[Drake Tungsten]

Watching these videos is making me think that neither Letterman nor Leno were ever funny.

[Drake Tungsten]

Chris Eliot

Cabin Boy

[loinburger]

These pipes... are clean!

[Drake Tungsten]

Better...

[Drake Tungsten]

These pipes... are clean!

Would you like to buy a monkey?

[Drake Tungsten]

Poor Chris Eliot...

[Solomwi]

But back on topic.
If blackmail wasn't illegal then every affair gone bad could end up as a grab for money.
And there would probably be more entrapment type affairs.
Yes, they could still sell to the papers, but the market value would be so low that it wouldn't be worth the effort in most cases.
I'll admit that your questions made me really think if there was a difference, but I still think there is.

I think what you describe there is the overwhelming majority of blackmail cases already. The press doesn't care about the story, but the wife/husband/family/etc. does. So the question is why adopt a policy that incentivizes infidelity. Legal blackmail would just add one more possible bad outcome to affairs. As it is, the blackmail outcome is still a possibility, but the philanderer can go to the police and have a decent chance of keeping it quiet without paying a dime. I'm not sure I buy the extension that we're protecting the spouse and children from being confronted with the truth, either, since it presumes that incentives don't matter and "those people are going to cheat no matter what."

I still think Imran's point that it incentivizes those with newsworthy stories to go to the press with them is the best justification I've heard, but to me it doesn't justify outlawing the sale of a legal right.