Home Browse Media Law Resources Briefs & Comments
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.

Briefs & Comments

  • Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Secret Service
    May 8, 2012

    RCFP, along with eleven other organizations, signed on to an amicus brief in a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia urging the court to find that U.S. Secret Service White House complex visitor logs are "agency records" under the federal Freedom of Information Act and that the Secret Service is required to process a request for such records in compliance with FOIA.

  • Marken v. Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
    March 26, 2012

    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a letter brief in support of California resident Michael Chwe's petition to the California Supreme Court for review of a lower court ruling allowing a public employee who is the subject of a public records request to preemptively file a lawsuit challenging an agency's decision to release the record. If such a ruling is allowed to stand, it will have the effect of reversing the presumption of public access to records in the state by forcing the public to demonstrate at the outset why a particular record should be disclosed.

  • Letter re: access to records in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning
    March 12, 2012

    A media coalition comprising 47 national and local news organizations and associations, including The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, wrote the U.S. Department of Defense to express concern about reports that journalists covering the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning have been unable to view documents filed in the proceeding.

  • Letter brief in support of photojournalist Bradley Stuart Allen
    March 12, 2012

    Photojournalist Bradley Stuart Allen was charged with felony conspiracy and other offenses for his coverage of an "Occupy" demonstration in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Reporters Committee and National Press Photographers Association argued that newsgathering is constitutionally protected, and courts considering punishments for exercise of that right should weigh the public interest in obtaining information against competing interests. The groups urged the Court to grant Mr.

  • Comments to Maryland House Committee on Health & Government Operations re: House Bill 62
    February 23, 2012

    HB 62 proposes an amendment to the current exemption for “research projects” in Maryland's public information act that would allow public universities to withhold from disclosure wide categories of records "produced or collected by" faculty members.

  • Testimony regarding Maryland anti-SLAPP bill
    February 15, 2012

    Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Executive Director Lucy Dalglish testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, in support of SB 221. which clarifies and modernizes Maryland's anti-SLAPP law. SB 221 offers several important improvements to the current law, including the removal of the requirement that defendants show that the plaintiff filed the lawsuit in “bad faith” – that is, with the intent to use it to stifle constitutionally protected expression – in order to have the lawsuit dismissed as a SLAPP.

  • McCutchen v. City of Fort Smith
    February 14, 2012

    Fort Smith, Ark. resident and attorney Joey McCutchen sued the city when its city administrator presented individual members of the city’s board of directors with a proposed amendment to local ordinances outside of a public meeting, and some of the board members expressed their initial approval or disapproval. A lower court ruled not only that such behavior did not violate the open meetings law, but also that the law – as well as its criminal misdemeanor penalty – was an unconstitutional infringement on the speech of public officials.

  • Comments to Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary re. Senate Bill 785
    February 7, 2012

    The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a bill that would impose criminal charges against members of the media and others who, in connection with any criminal proceeding, disclose documents that divulge information about a child involved in the proceeding, regardless of the source of such documents or information. The bill requires all documents that include such information to be filed under seal, without court order, with a redacted version made publicly available.

  • Testimony in support of Illinois bill on audio recording of police officers
    January 31, 2012

    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has submitted testimony to the Illinois General Assembly in support of an amendment to the state eavesdropping law, which would create an exemption from criminal prosecution for the “[r]ecording of a peace officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and speaking at a volume audible to the unassisted human ear.” House Bill 3944 is an important step in reforming an overly broad law that criminalizes a critically important aspect of the newsgathering process and infringes on cherished First Amendment freedoms, the Repor

  • Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Inc. v. The Delaware Court of Chancery et al.
    January 20, 2012

    The Delaware Coalition for Open Government brought a lawsuit in federal court against the Delaware Chancery Court, its judges and the state challenging as facially unconstitutional Chancery Court rules that allow blanket confidentiality in private arbitration proceedings and records, including court-supervised settlement agreements.

  • United States v. Alvarez
    January 20, 2012

    The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) struck down the 2006 Stolen Valor Act, which criminalizes lying about the receipt of military honors, on First Amendment grounds. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case--which involves a California man who, despite never serving in the military, stated at a municipal water board meeting that he had served in the armed forces for almost three decades and received a Medal of Honor--and decide whether the statute is constitutional.

  • Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center v. Marzano-Lesnevich
    January 13, 2012

    The U.S. District Court in New Orleans (E.D. La.) held that the Louisiana anti-SLAPP statute could not be used to dispose of a claim for injunctive relief against an author prohibiting further dissemination of two articles she published, as well as the planned publication of her book.

  • Letter to U.S. Marshals Service
    January 4, 2012

    Reporters Committee, joined by 21 news media organizations and companies, writes to U.S. Marshals Service asking for an explanation of its latest statement on release of federal mug shots.

  • Amicus Brief in Neely v. Wilson
    December 15, 2011

    Urging the Supreme Court of Texas to uphold the state's third-party allegation rule protecting journalists who fairly and accurately report the positions of opposing parties in newsworthy events.

  • Letter to NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs
    November 21, 2011

    Reporters Committee joins letter to NYPD DCPI expressing concern over treatment of the news media during police action at the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park.