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    Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
    Tablet and mobile phone showing news online

    Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.

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    Government business on private email must be public, Reporters Committee argues
    Press Release
    May 1, 2013
    Government officials should not be allowed to conceal their public activities by utilizing private email and texting accounts, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argued in a letter...
    Freedom of Information, Texas
    Adkisson v. Abbott, No. 03-12-00535-CV
    Briefs & Comments
    April 30, 2013
    A San Antonio Express-News reporter requested access to a county commissioner's personal emails that concerned government business. The county, unsure of whether to fulfill the request, sought an...
    Public records, Texas
    How I got the story: Judy Walton
    The News Media & The Law
    February 1, 2013
    Chattanooga Times Free Press photo Judy Walton amassed a large collection of records for her report on irregularities with a local drug task force.
    Freedom of Information
    How FOIA treats personal email messages used to conduct official business
    The News Media & The Law
    February 1, 2013
     
    E-mail, Freedom of Information
    Governments continue to come up with new ways to prevent access to records
    The News Media & The Law
    February 1, 2013
    AP Photos by Mike Groll, Kevin Wolf Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Lisa Jackson If the back and forth between public records requesters and government officials can be likened to a game, a series of recent...
    E-mail, Freedom of Information, Text messaging
    Could American press ever be subject to a stateside equivalent of the Leveson Inquiry?
    The News Media & The Law
    February 1, 2013
    AP Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, leaves a London court where she faced charges linked to alleged bribery of public officials. The world...
    Newsgathering
    Reporters Committee magazine explains why journalists' sources may not be as confidential as they think
    Press Release
    November 21, 2012
    Journalists who confer with confidential sources via electronic communications may find that law enforcement authorities are privy to those conversations, thanks to outdated laws developed long...
    For journalists, life in the cloud means greater legal risk
    The News Media & The Law
    November 1, 2012
    Our cover story in this issue highlights two aspects of the important issue of electronic monitoring. One concern is that such electronic snooping by law enforcement authorities is widespread, and...
    Newsgathering
    Re-examining access to personal digital data
    The News Media & The Law
    November 1, 2012
    AP Photo by Stephanie Keith New York police arrest protesters during an Occupy Wall Street march on Oct. 1, 2011. Twitter had to release almost three months’ worth of one protester’s...
    Reporter's Privilege
    Confronting the electronic surveillance 'legal void'
    The News Media & The Law
    November 1, 2012
    Stephen W. Smith, a federal magistrate judge in Houston, regularly hears government requests for electronic surveillance, including access to cellular telephone and email records.
    Reporter's Privilege