PBS’s MediaShift lists eleven top stories in media law for 2011

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. Full story

Ruled not a journalist, Oregon blogger loses $2.5 million defamation suit in federal court

A blogger who wrote critical articles about an investment firm lost a $2.5 million defamation suit to the firm after an U.S. District Court judge ruled that she was not a journalist so not under the protection of the Oregon media shield law. She could not therefore withhold the identity of a source needed to [...]

Blogger’s right to anonymity upheld in federal court

A federal district judge held that a blogger could remain anonymous since his First Amendment rights were paramont to discovery needs in a defamation case. The “Skywalker,” as the blogger is known, is charged with defaming the spiritual leader of the Art of Living Foundation. From the Courthouse News Service, November 16, 2011, by Maria [...]

Bloggers’ ranting style protects in free speech cases but may hurt in other realms

Bloggers may win victories in defamation cases since their heated critical commentary is easily identified as opinion rather than fact and not libelous, but the advantage may have a serious down side, writes John Sharkey for the Citizen Media Law Project. Sharkey is concerned that in ruling for bloggers in defamation cases,  judges are making [...]

Copyright troll Righthaven faces shutdown

A federal court in Nevada has given United States marshals authorization to seize over $63,000. in cash and/or assets from Righthaven. The Las Vegas copyright troll failed to pay a court judgment from August 15. Righthaven tried to make an enterprise out of suing bloggers over copied newspaper articles, but it was revealed in court [...]

Bloggers advocating democratic reform suffer oppression

Despite the promise of the Arab Spring, bloggers world-wide are seen as threats to public order and  arrested and imprisoned for speaking out for democratic reform. Bloggers are in danger in many countries including Syria, Egypt, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. -db From a commentary by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, October 27, 2011, by [...]

EFF argues for right to online anonymity

In reaction to a Washington Times editorial, an EFF commentary argues that online anonymity is crucial to protect the free speech rights of vulnerable citizens from gay youth to Syrian dissidents. The Times editorial called for the end to online anonymity arguing that it was needed to reestablish civility given the vicious lies and hateful [...]

Expert panel says too early to assess role of social media in Arab spring

Panelists at the U.S. Institute of Peace addressed the role of social media in recent uprisings in the Arab world with some saying that the use of social media was part of a power shift from nation states to smaller groups. Others said the information about the social media is still too mixed and scattered [...]

California college dean loses defamation suit against blogger

A Los Angeles judge agreed with a blogger that a former Cal Poly College of Engineering dean had violated his First Amendment free speech rights in filing a defamation suit over posts challenging an agreement to open an engineering program in Saudi Arabia that would allegedly bar women, Jews and gays. The judge said the [...]

Study shows traditional media plays crucial role in enforcing open govenment

Research by a Brigham Young professor revealed that newspapers are behind almost every court case and law promoting public access and open government. With newspaper revenues shrinking, it is not guaranteed that as bloggers take over much of the reporting that they will be able to challenge government agencies. The online news publication ProPublica that [...]

New York: Student speech rights set back by federal appeals court ruling against high school blogger

A New York federal appeals court delivered a double whammy to student free speech rights in ruling that a high school administration could punish Avery Doninger for statements in her off-campus blog and subsequently for wearing a “Team Avery” T-shirt at a school assembly to protest the earlier punishment. The ruling focused on the issue [...]

Opinion: Righthaven lacks exclusive copyright ownership of Stephens Media news articles

Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl says that in obtaining  from a federal district court an agreement between Righthaven and Stephens Media, it discovered that although Righthaven claimed in its suits for copyright infringement that it held exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute Stephens Media news articles, that the agreement stated that Righthaven [...]

Libel rules with impunity on social network

The younger generation is filing few libel suits for such as lies and character assassination, fueling speculation that they have greater tolerance of “hurly, burly Internet conversation.” Or is it just that young people realize that bloggers have limited resources, decimating the chances of obtaining damages? -db From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, March 14, [...]

Media Bloggers Association criticizes Righthaven in amicus brief

The Media Bloggers Association has asked a federal judge in Nevada to award only minimal damages and no lawyer’s fees to Righthaven who is suing a blogger for violating copyright in publishing an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal on his website. The lawyers for the bloggers argued in the brief that the damages asked, [...]

CIA reports influence of Chinese bloggers on government policy

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency  said Chinese bloggers influenced government policy, citing a December incident in which bloggers expressed outrage at the enslavement of mentally retarded men to work at a building materials plant in Sichuan province. -db Secrecy News January 19, 2011 By Steven Aftergood Chinese bloggers “expressed rage and despondence after learning about [...]

Blogger sued for copying news article claims license provided for republication

A blogger sued by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for republishing one of its articles has argued that the newspaper gave him “implied license” to republish by encouraging readers to save links to the work and send the links to others. -db Online Media Daily August 18, 2010 By Wendy Davis A blogger sued for allegedly [...]

Iranian bloggers at great risk in using Internet

In the last year since the protests over the Iranian election, the government has arrested 170 bloggers and journalists with 22 receiving prison sentences totaling more than 135 years. Authoritarian governments are sharing technology aimed at stifling dissent and in the last two years have increased their effectiveness in silencing critics. -db Voice of America [...]

Police action in invading editor’s house in Gizmodo iPhone case said in conflict with California law

A director at the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard says that in seizing a Gizmodo editor’s computers, the police most likely violated the state’s shield law.-db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary April 26, 2010 By Sam Bayard Gizmodo announced this afternoon that California police seized computers and servers from the home of its reporter/editor [...]

New York City considers press credentials for bloggers

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to allow online journalists and bloggers press credentials. The proposal comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed by three bloggers denied access to city events. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press March 3, 2010 By Christine Beckett New York City and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new [...]

Opinion: Time for bloggers to gain protections afforded traditional media

With more of the public gaining their news from online sources rather than print media and using the social media to become more interactive and participatory in accessing the news, a CMLP blogger argues that bloggers should be entitled to the same protection as mainstream press. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary March 1, 2010 [...]

Bloggers replace mainstream media in covering local government

Bloggers using Twitter and Facebook are filling the void to cover local government meetings, taking the place of mainstream media suffering losses of revenue as the internet takes its share of ads. -DB MediaShift January 14, 201 By Steven Davy Traditionally, newspaper reporters were dispatched to cover the mundane proceedings of a local government in action: [...]

2009 a bad year for free speech online

2009 was not a good year for free speech online as China and Iraq set a dismal standard. Even democratic countries considered ways to censor online expression. -DB MediaShift January 11, 2010 By Clothilde Le Coz 2009 was an unprecedented year for online repression. For the first time since the Internet emerged as a tool [...]

Law student chides TSA for violating blogger’s rights

A Citizen Media Law Project blogger says the recent attempt of the Transportation Security Administration to serve citizen bloggers with subpoenas after the bloggers published new airport security directives shows that the agency needs judicial checks and its power to subpoena stripped. -DB Citizen Media Law Project January 4, 2010 By Andrew Moshirnia In recent [...]

Women’s group sues Google for bloggers’ defamation

The National Association of Professional Women is suing Google and three other Web sites for publishing bloggers’ statements that say the organization is a scam. -DB Courthouse News Service December 31, 2009 By Barbara Leonard MINEOLA, N.Y. – The National Association of Professional Women claims Google and three other Web sites defamed it by allowing [...]

TSA puts heat on blogger posting new screening procedures

Armed agents from the Transportation Security Administration visited two bloggers in their homes with subpoenas, seeking the identity of the source who provided a document revising screening procedures for airports after the recent aborted bombing attempt by a Nigerian man. -DB Wired Threat Level December 30, 2009 By Kim Zetter Two bloggers received home visits [...]

Federal shield bill for reporters passes major hurdle

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send the federal media shield bill to the full Senate after months of debate and amendments. The contentious issue of whether bloggers and other citizen journalists will be covered by the bill has yet to be determined. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press December 10, 2009 By [...]

Federal shield law moving forward in Senate after compromise forged with White House

The federal journalist shield law cleared a major hurdle when the Obama administration cut a deal with the Senate to include freelancers and online journalists. The bill also includes a public-interest balance test so that a judge could weigh the public interest in secrecy against the public interest in disclosure. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom [...]

Bloggers cut from senate shield law

Under both House and Senate versions of the federal shield law, only employed journalists will be protected. A former Christian Science Monitor editor says the failure to include citizen journalists ignores the reality of the modern era and who provides accurate, up-to-date news. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Commentary September 28, 2009 By Arthur Bright [...]

Environmental reporters in Egypt and China face devastating reprisals

It is not an easy life reporting about the environment in Egypt and China as the reporters face fines, law suits, censorship, death threats and prison. -DB MediaShift September 14, 2009 By Clothilde Le Coz Since May 2009, Tamer Mabrouk has held one of the saddest records regarding human rights abuses in Egypt. He is [...]

Hard truth: Traditional journalism must innovate to survive in changing information climate

A fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society argues that the internet has killed off the mass media with many important benefits to a thriving democratic society. -DB Center for Internet and Society Commentary September 8, 2009 By Sarah Hinchliff Pearson Sometimes changes are so basic and world-changing that they can be difficult to [...]

Venezuelan president clamping down on media

A United States unclassified intelligence report says that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aggressively silencing his media critics, including bloggers. He has proposed a law that would make it a crime to report on anything the government finds objectionable.  -DB Open Source Center Analysis August 3, 2009 President Chavez’s government is moving forcefully to silence critics [...]