Opnion: The Stop Online Piracy Act would would adversely affect journalists

If passed in its present form, the Stop Online Piracy Act would subject articles to censorship in blocking articles from appearing on sites accused of piracy, writes Jessica Ray for 10,000 Words. Even if one site contained content deemed illegal, the entire site could be blocked. Internet innovation and creativity would also take a hit. [...]

California law orders jurors to cool it on social media

A new California law scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2012 prohibits jurors from using texting, social media or the Internet to research or to distribute information about cases in trial. There have been numerous instances of juror misconduct that made the law necessary. Then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year. [...]

FCC report recommends policy initiatives to protect journalism

A working group of staff members at the Federal Communications Commission issued a report calling for Congress and policy makers to support civic journalism. “There is a shortage of ‘local, professional accountability reporting’ which will (not surprisingly to any of us journalist folk) lead to corruption. The working group foresees a world where non-profit media, [...]

Journalists developing practices for verifying information from social media

Journalists are now developing ways to verify social media content and citizen reports, says Craig Silverman in the Columbia Journalism Review. He cites a number of experts and the tips that constitute best practices. The tips include researching a source’s background for a record of reliability, using Google street, map and satellite imagery to verify [...]

Japanese disaster shows limits of citizen journalism

In viewing video of the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, MediaPost’s Erik Sass says the most valuable footage came from professional news organizations. The pros were able to use traffic helicopters to focus on the most important developments such as the advancing tsunami and fires while amateurs tended to try to film too much and [...]

Consultant argues layoffs, lower salaries will not save newspapers

A newspaper consultant says that traditional cost-cutting methods of staff cuts and lower salaries will not go far enough in generating consistent revenues for newspaper companies. The publishers must concentrate on creating value including vital local news and features. -db MediaShift October 18, 2010 By Neil Heyside Newspapers can be saved and they can get [...]

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: [...]

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 [...]

Will it Work?: New German proposal for copyright system to save journalism

Citizen Media Law Project blogger Arthur Bright argues that Germany’s proposal to charge for journalism content using a system similar to that used by the movie and music industries is fraught with difficulty and will only delay the inevitable. To survive, says Bright,  journalism must develop a workable business model. -DB Citizen Media Law Project [...]

Iran gains edge in diet wars as blogger loses weight in jail

According to the Iranian government, a leading cleric-blogger has attained self-improvement by slimming down in prison. Says CMLP blogger Andrew Moshirnia, this success may cause a stampede in the U.S. to emulate Iranian weight-loss practices. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Commentary September 15, 2009 By Andrew Moshirnia A little while back, I wrote about the [...]

New York: Journalists among those blocked from bringing electronic devices into federal court

A New York committee is expected to develop a policy placing severe restrictions on electronic devices in the federal court building, except, of course, those belonging to attorneys. -DB Citizen Media Law Project July 27, 2009 By Eric P. Robinson Attorneys in New York are hot and heavy (or should that be a-Twitter?) over rules being [...]