First Amendment lawyer funds free speech institute at Yale Law

A prominent First Amendment lawyer has joined with Yale Law School to create The Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression to support free speech and press and freedom of information. Students will work on First Amendment issues, draft model laws and advise policymakers on media freedom and transparency. -db From the New York Law [...]

Groups asks New York Times to set standard on disclosure for op-ed contributors

The Checks and Balances Project has asked the New York Times to blaze the trail in providing full disclosure of financial conflicts of interest of their op-ed contributors. The inspiration for the request came after the Times published an article on the myths of green energy but failed to mention that the contributor worked for [...]

Federal judge says receiving classified information a felony

A federal judge’s assertion that receiving classified information without authorization was a felony is “almost certainly a misunderstanding and a misrepresentation of the law,” writes Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News. The judge made the statement in a memorandum concerning an order limiting the scope of testimony of New York Times reporter James Risen in the [...]

Guardian rises to the top with reporting on phone-hacking scandal

Los Angeles Times columnist James Rainey praises Britain’s  Guardian newspaper for pursuing the Rupert Murdock phone-hacking scandal that he says solidifies the newspaper as one of the world’s best. He credits editor Alan Rusbridger, reporter Nick Davies and “a rock-solid supporting cast.” At the same time, Rainey reports that the Guardian faces layoffs as ad [...]

Keller v. Assange: Gray Lady gladly accepts secrets; scorns source

by Edward Wasserman| It’s the climax of the 1975 hit Three Days of the Condor. On a Manhattan sidewalk fugitive CIA analyst Robert Redford, having outgunned his assassins, confronts his double-dealing boss, who demands he join the sinister plot to control the world’s oil. No way, Redford says, he’s already blown the whistle. And the [...]

Texas man suing New York Times for libel in article on bombing conspiracy

An FBI informant, Brandon Darby, is suing The New York Times over an article that said he was involved in a conspiracy to bomb the 2008 Republic National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. The informant said he instead tipped off the FBI that two men were manufacturing Molotov cocktails to use against the police and [...]

Journalist urges newspaper industry to work for free and open Internet

MediaShift Opinion January 31, 2011 By Kat Aaron The newspaper industry has been buffeted by the advent of the Internet, but it would be unwise of them, says journalist Kat Aaron, to stand by without fighting for net neutrality and a free and open Internet. -db Tagged:

New York Times distances itself from WikiLeaks

The New York Times Magazine Commentary January 26, 2011 By Bill Keller The New York Times’ editor-in-chief writes that while he opposes the U.S. government’s initiatives to prosecute WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange and pass new laws to punish those disseminating classified information, WikiLeaks was a news source and not a partner or collaborator.

New York Times seeks revenues with new multi-tiered fee plan

Business Insider January 24, 2011 By Larry Kramer The New York Times is launching a new plan next month to charge its heaviest users a subscription fee. Under the plan, to maximize the numbers of infrequent users and advertising revenue, those arriving from search engines would get free content. -db

Former CIA officer pleads not guilty to leaking to NYT

The former CIA officer accused of leaking classified documents to The New York Times has pleaded not guilty — and his lawyer lashed out at the government for failing to go after a reporter and publisher. -sdl The Associated Press Jan. 14, 2011 By Matthew Barakat Associated Press

Libel suits against New York Times dwindle to zero

Up against Times v. Sullivan and the cost of a lawsuit of some duration, lawyers are reluctant to take up libel suits against national publications. -db ABA Journal October 1, 2010 By Ed Finkel During his 30 years as a lawyer for the New York Times Co., George Freeman says, the “Gray Lady” faced four [...]

New York Times CEO says company will print newspaper indefinitely

While noting that the New York Times Company was a multi-media company, Times CEO Janet Robinson said that print accounted for about 75 percent of the ad revenues so that the Times expected to publish a print newspaper into the future. -db All Things Digital September 22, 2010 By Peter Kafka New York Times CEO Janet [...]

New York Times publisher says newspaper will cease to be printed at some point

For the first time, the New York Times admitted that they will be forced to suspend its printed edition sometime in the future. -db Business Insider Commentary September 8, 2010 By Henry Blodget At a conference in London, Arthur Sulzberger Jr conceded that someday the New York Times Company will be forced to stop publishing [...]

Craigslist’s ‘Adult Services’ decision a blow to free speech?

Craigslist has decided to eplace its “Adult Services” section with a “Censored” bar that blocks content. Does this  limit free speech? MSNBC/ Commentary September 6, 2010 By Athima Chansanchai With Craigslist’s decision to replace its “Adult Services” section of its “Services” classifieds with a “Censored” bar that blocks that content, the online powerhouse has once [...]

At Yahoo, Using Searches to Steer News Coverage

With the rise of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) protocols to drive traffic to news websites,  journalist are now becoming curators of information. A new model has emerged: the public decides what is “newsworthy,” and editors feed that back to the public. How does this model impact investigative reporting projects in the long-run? -SMD New York [...]

Apple v. New York Times on removing iPad app

Wired writer Ryan Singel says the New York Times is acting unreasonably in asking Apple to remove a news reader iPad app from its online store. -db Wired Commentary June 10, 2010 By Ryan Singel The New York Times tried this week to get Apple to remove a news reader iPad app from its online [...]

Attorney General subpoenas New York Times reporter over book on C.I.A.

A lawyer for New York Times reporter James Risen says he will honor his commitment to keep his sources confidential in resisting a subpoena to provide documents about his 2006 book about the Central Intelligency Agency.  -db The New York Times April 28 2010 By Charlie Savage WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is seeking [...]

Dan Gillmor: NYTimes turns blind eye to IPad App bans?

Does the NYTimes care that Apple bans Apps due to content? Dan Gillmor, FAC board member and  director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, questions the nature of the two media giants’ relationship, but as he writes in his  Mediactive blog,  “I’ve received, after 11 days since first asking, [...]

Online revenue helps New York Times bottom line

The New York Times Company suffered a 20% drop in print advertising in the fourth quarter but gained 11% in digital advertising. -db Online Media Daily February 10, 2010 By Gavin O’Malley The New York Times Company on Wednesday credited digital ad dollars with helping to soften the blow of another disappointing quarter. “In the [...]

Nonprofit news organization formed in San Francisco will serve New York Times

The Bay Area News Project will produce stories for the Bay Area edition of the New York Times some time after the middle of 2010, but its primary outlet for news will be its Web site. -DB The New York Times January 22, 2010 By Richard Pérez-Peña A new nonprofit news organization in the San [...]