false light

plural false lights

1. countableidiomaticA point of view resulting in a misleading or inaccurate representation of a person, situation, or fact.

   It was not I, but these things working in me—on my brain, making me see things in a false light!

   1883, George MacDonald, chapter 58, in Donal Grant

   3 more examples

   To the untrue man, the whole universe is false—it is impalpable—it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 11, in The Scarlet Letter

   Some of the charges against them . . . are due merely to the false light in which they are regarded.

   1920, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, chapter 13, in The New Jerusalem

   Don Lehe, a Republican state representative from a rural district in Indiana, said online videos can cast farmers in a false light and give them little opportunity to correct the record.

   2013 April 6, Richard A. Oppel Jr, “Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 May 2015

2. uncountablelawA cause of action arising under the common law where a person is portrayed in a way which, while not technically false, is misleading and likely to cause embarrassment to that person.

   Dickinson’s lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks unspecified damages on defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims.

   2015 May 20, “Model Janice Dickinson Sues Bill Cosby For Defamation”, in CBS Los Angeles, retrieved 22 May 2015