A study of leaks of classified information says that the friction caused by interests in keeping national security secrets and in the public’s right to know can be mitigated to some extent through improved understanding and management achieved partly through dialogue between the government and media.

WikiLeaks has changed the secrecy terrain, writes Steven Aftergood for Secrecy News, with the government’s increased focus on leaks and use of new surveillance tools. -db

From a commentary in Secrecy News, February 8, 2012, by Steven Aftergood.

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Pasadena encrypted their radio signal January 7, effectively denying the public and media access to police radio traffic. The Pasadena police department said the media could make public record requests for access to the traffic and insisted that the department took the step to encrypt to protect officers by closing criminals out of the system. -db

From the Pasadena Star-News, February 5, 2012, by Brian Charles.

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As early as this fall, the U.S. government could have in place an interagency project using up-to-date technology to implement the Freedom of Information Act.

New technologies could increase proactive disclosure, speed responsiveness and cut backlogs. -db

From a commentary in OMB Watch, February 7, 2012.

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A California appeals court ruled that cities cannot withhold the name of a police officer involved in shootings unless they provide evidence of a specific threat against the officer.

The judge said it’s common practice to identify officers and there was a strong public interest in knowing who was involved in shootings. -db

From the San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2012, by John Wildermuth.

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Weave, a new open-source, web-based platform will allow journalists to see data visually in bringing stories to the public. Weave is not an app but provides software to “create infinitely interactive visualizations,” writes Andrew Phelps for the Nieman Journalism Lab. -db

From a commentary for the Nieman Journalism Lab, January 31, 2012, by Andrew Phelps.

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Finding no substantiation for charges that News Corp journalists hacked phones in the U.S., the FBI is now checking to see if they bribed foreign law enforcement officers in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

News Corp declined to comment on the investigation. -db

From Reuters, February 7, 2012, by Mark Hosenball and Georgina Prodhan with additional reporting by Kate Holton.

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A media access bill allowing journalists into California state prisons stands a chance to become law. Eight previous versions of the law were vetoed by three governors.

The bill would not only allow journalists to talk with inmates but also prohibit officials from punishing inmates for doing so. -db

From the Fog City Journal, February 4, 2012, by Rebecca Rosen Lum.

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The presiding judge for the L.A. County Juvenile Court ordered the courts open to the media but not the public.

The court had previously barred the media and public from cases of child abuse, foster care and adoption. The parties involved in a case can still make a compelling case to close doors.

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, February 3, 2012, by Rachel Bunn.

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In a case pitting a forest products company against the California Department of Agriculture, the Sacramento Bee sought discovery material filed with the court.

A federal district judge ruled that once the materials became judicial records attached to a motion for summary judgment, the public and press should be granted access. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, February 2, 2012, by Haley Behre.

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With travel costs eating up the budgets of the big media companies, they will look to save money by ending man-to-man coverage of also rans including Newt Gingrich, predicts John Ellis of BuzzFeed.-db

From a commentary in BuzzFeed, January  31, 2012, by John Ellis.

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The Reporters Committee  for Freedom of the Press did not like a federal appeals decision upholding a law restricting access to Virginia state records by non-residents. The court ruled that the restriction was not unconstitutional.

The Reporters Committee felt the court should have considered the effect of the restriction on smaller journalistic enterprises. -db

From a commentary by The Reporters Committee  for Freedom of the Press, February 1, 2012.

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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that non-residents have no right to Virginia public records under the state’s freedom of information law. Non-residents were challenging the law claiming it was unconstitutional.

The two non-residents who sued the state were seeking child support documents and real estate tax assessment records. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, February 1, 2012, by You-Jin Han.

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Two years after President Barack Obama ordered government agencies to come up to speed on declassifying 400 million pages of old records, there has been little progress.

The failure to make more progress is a sign that the secrecy system considers itself immune from presidential orders, writes Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News. -db

From a commentary in Secrecy News, January 30, 2012 by Steven Aftergood.

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The Oregon case denying a blogger protection under the state;’s shield is of minor concern writes Eric P. Robinson for the Citizen Media Law Project. A greater threat lies in a recent decision in Illinois.

In that case the Cook County court ruled that an online news source that posted blogs on technology did not qualify as a “news medium” and did not therefore enjoy Illinois reporter’s privilege. -db

From a commentary for the Citizen Media Law Project, January 26, 2012, by Eric P. Robinson.

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The Justice Department wants a federal judge to allow them to withhold photos of the death of Osama bin Laden on the grounds that releasing the photos could incite violence against the U.S.

The DOJ disputed the arguments of Judicial Watch that making the photos public would cause harm to national security by revealing intelligence methods or equipment. -db

From The Blog of Legal Times, January 26, 2012, by Mike Scarcella.

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The Public Insight Network (PIN) is launching its own reporting unit to produce original stories tapping into  its huge database of 130,000 citizen sources.

Citizens across America and recently South Africa have been reporting their experiences to the PIN database. Reporters can use the sources to write stories on such topics as foreclosures or the presidential primaries. -db

From the Nieman Journalism Lab, January 25, 2012, by Andrew Phelps.

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The Justice Department  is charging a former intelligence officer with leaking classified information to a journalist. The leaks included the names of covert officers and their work in apprehending terrorist suspects.

The officer is charged with divulging to a New York Times reporter the contact information and details of activities of a covert CIA operative. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 23, 20112, by Andrea Papagianis.

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FBI said it was checking into the possibility that News Corp’s News of the World reporters were hacking into the voice mail of actor Jude Law at JFK Airport in New York. -db

From AdWeek, January 20 2012, by Emma Bazilian.

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Prosecutors in the case of a former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling accused of leaking classified information are attempting to reverse a lower court finding that a New York Times reporter James Risen was exempt from disclosing his sources for a story on a CIA program to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.

The government prosecutors claim that there is no right for reporters to withhold identities of sources in criminal cases. -db

From a commentary in Secrecy News, January 17, 2012, by Steven Aftergood.

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A paparazzo is suing Lindsay Lohan for running over him in a chauffeur-driven vehicle in 2010. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, January 11, 2012.

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A prominent blogger purchased a $300 toy chopper to help produce live-stream reports of such events a Occupy Wall Street protests.

The chopper can fly 50 feet high at 11 miles per hour and stay up for about 12 minutes before recharging. -db

From Wired, January 6, 20112,  by Sean Captain.

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MediaShift’s top media law stories for 2011 include journalists’ coverage of Occupy movements; the proposed online piracy legislation; net neutrality; coverage of live police actions; Righthaven and the “hot news” doctrine. -db

From a commentary in MediaShift, December 23, 2011, by Rob Arcamona, Jeff Hermes and Andy Sellars.

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Police entered the offices of Global Revolution that runs livestream on Occupy Wall Street and arrested six of its operators on Monday effectively shutting down the site which had aggregated livestreaming of Occupy Wall Street worldwide.

The arrests were made because the six were living in the offices and refused to honor an order to vacate since the premises were deemed by authorities “imminently perilous to life.” -db

From The Atlantic Wire, January 3, 2012, by Adam Martin.

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The Anaheim City Attorney is investigating an e-mail sent by a planning department official ordering employees to purge unnecessary records at the risk of disciplinary action.

The order came after the Voice of OC filed a California Public Records Act request for communications to and from city council members. -db

From the Voice of OC, January 4, 2012, by Adam Elmahrek.

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A federal district judge ordered the release of court records relating to a lawsuit brought by a hospital system alleging that another hospital group had conspired against them.

The hospital system refused to release details of an agreement settling the case claiming that the information was confidential, containing vital business information about future plans. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 4, 2012, by Kristen Rasmussen.

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The British police are stepping up an  investigation into who leaked over 1000 private e-mails by climate scientists in 2009.

The leaked e-mails  fueled public skepticism about global warming.

From The New York Times, January 1, 2012, by Leslie Kaufman.

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There were four cases over the Freedom of Information Act that promoted transparency in 2011 according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

The cases were Milner v. Department of Navy, FCC v. AT&T, Islamic Shura Council of S. Cal. v. FBI and National Day Laborer Organizing Network v. ICE.

From a commentary for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, December 31, 2011, by Jennifer Lynch and Mark Rumold.

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The quest for national security after 9/11 has resulted in a number of secret agencies, Congressional committees, courts and even laws argues the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU claims that these practices deprive lawmakers and the public of information needed to check abuses and to make policy. -db

From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, December 19, 2011.

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The Milford-Miami Advertiser must defend itself in court in a defamation claim over an article it ran that a police officer “had sex with a woman while on the job.” The reference was to allegations 13 years before a current sex scandal investigation.

Even though he was fired for various other offenses, the officer said it was never substantiated that he had sex with anyone while on duty and was reinstated as a police officer. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, December 13, 2011, by Kevin Koeninger.

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The Chicago Tribune is deciding its course of action after a federal judge ordered thier reporter to turn over notes and other document in the case of a juror who concealed her criminal record in the William Cellini trial.

Cellini was convicted last month for attempted extortion. The Tribune suggested that the court should first question the woman’s fellow jurors, family and other close associates. -db

From the Chicago Tribune, December 13, 2011, by Stacy St. Clair.

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The New York Times columnist Nick Kristof and his collegue were tear-gassed and taken into custody by Bahraini police during a protest in Sitra.

The police said the detention was for Kristof’s own good. Kristof has been critical of the Bahraini government. -db

From The Wrap,  December 9, 2011, by Lucas Shaw.

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A recent poll showed that 72 percent of the public were in favor of allowing TV cameras into the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the new health care law.

C-Span has asked the court for permission to film the proceedings to give its audience live coverage. Several justices have voiced vehement opposition to allowing cameras into the courtroom. -db

From Politico, December 9, 2011, by M.J. Lee.

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A local newspaper said the courtroom rules for the ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky’s hearing over his alleged rape and sexual abuse of  children “may stun the national media.” The rules cover five pages. “It’s not California,” noted the Centre Daily Times. -db

From a  commentary in the Centre Daily Times, December  7, 2011.

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After Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve sent a letter to lawmakers criticizing Bloomberg News for “egregious errors” in a story on the bank bailout, Bloomberg responded with a detailed rebuttal of the key charges.

Among other issues, the rebuttal addressed factual errors, disputes over transparency, and fairness in reporting. -db

From Bloomberg News, December 7, 2011, edited by Robert Friedman and John Voskuhl.

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The Obama administration is still insisting that cables WikiLeaks released last year are classified even though the cables were released by the State Department in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request.

The classified information concerned targeted killings, detention at Guantanamo, torture and rendition. -db

From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, December 7, 2011, by Nathan Freed Wessler and Anna Estevao.

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If Congress passes the Cameras in the Courtroom Act of 2011, the issue may ultimately wind up in the Supreme Court in a constitutional showdown.

Several justices have expressed vehement opposition to allowing TV coverage of their proceedings, but many in Congress want the public to see the arguments on such crucial issues as  constitutionality of the health care bill soon to be heard by the Court. -db

From the Christian Science Monitor, December 6, 2011, by Warren Richey.

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In a letter signed by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve attacked Bloomberg News for making errors in stories about the bailout.

Although the letter did not mention Bloomberg, it is clear that the letter addresses an article by a Bloomberg magazine last week on loans from the Fed to banks said to allow banks to cash in $13 billion in profits. -db

From The New York Times, December 6, 2011, by Benyamin Appelbaum.

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The president of the Society of Professional Journalists called for the end of the “alarming trend” of the arrests of journalists at Occupy demonstrations. John C. Ensslin said he covered the crime beat and that his brother was a police officer and so that he understands the difficult situations confonting police.

He proposes that both reporters and law enforcement official own up to mistakes made in the field and that authorities drop charges against reporters who were only doing their jobs. Ensslin also offered to set up forums with reporters and city officials to exchange views on the arrests. -db

From a commentary for the Society of Professional Journalists, by John C. Ensslin.

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A Lousiana state appeals court ruled that a reporter with KNOE-TV was not liable for the suicide of a blind man who allegedly committed a sexual assault against a blind student. The reporter had reported that the alleged crime was under investigation and named the accused. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, December 6, 2011, by Jeff D. Gorman.

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A Sacramento lawyer found herself in court the same day  arguing two sides of the First Amendment in two separate trials, in one to keep the press and public out of pretrail hearings in a sensational murder trial and the other to defend Occupy Sacramento protesters on free speech grounds.

In both trials she was arguing”time, place and manner” restrictions on free speech and/or press. -db

From the Sacramento Bee,  December  4, 2011, by Andy  Furillo.

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