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Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
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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.

News

Format: 2013-05-06
Format: 2013-05-06
Fox News reporter subpoenaed in James Holmes case
March 14, 2013
A New York judge has signed a subpoena requiring a Fox News reporter to testify in Colorado about who gave her confidential information about a notebook James Holmes sent to his psychiatrist days before he allegedly opened fire on a crowded movie theater last July, killing 12 people.
Third Circuit concludes articles about Virgin Islands judge's bail decisions not libelous
March 12, 2013
A retired Virgin Islands Superior Court judge was unable to prove that a reporter had malicious intent when writing articles that he believed defamed him, according to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (3rd Cir.). The decision on Friday affirms a ruling by the Virgin Islands Supreme Court dismissing Leon Kendall’s defamation claims against the Virgin Islands Daily News and one of its reporters.
Appeal proceeds secretly in Gray campaign investigation
March 8, 2013
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington issued several secret orders in a completely sealed case this week, as part of an investigation into D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s 2010 campaign. The case involves a probe into businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson, as reported by The Washington Post and other media sources. Thompson is alleged to have run a secret campaign for Gray, without abiding by campaign-finance disclosure laws or revealing the campaign to the public.
Justice issues letter supporting photojournalist arrested for taking pictures of police
March 7, 2013
The Department of Justice issued a rare letter supporting the constitutional rights of a photojournalist suing Montgomery County, Md., police officers who arrested him for taking their pictures while on duty. The Justice’s Statement of Interest issued Monday urges the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to uphold citizens’ constitutional rights to record police officers in their public capacity without being arrested or having the recordings unlawfully seized.
Duke University drops subpoenas to lacrosse-scandal blogger
March 4, 2013
Duke University has withdrawn subpoenas seeking communications between a college professor who wrote about the North Carolina school's lacrosse scandal and the student athletes following an appeals hearing last week. Duke lawyers dropped the subpoenas Friday before U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby could rule on whether a lower court’s decision to enforce the subpoenas should be overturned in Maine, where the professor lives. A lawsuit against the university stemming from the lacrosse case was also settled two days prior, making a portion of the subpoenas moot.
Judge erred in sealing court documents, Va. Supreme Court rules
March 1, 2013
In the first decision ever in Virginia to address the issue of moot arguments, the state Supreme Court decided Thursday that a judge incorrectly denied a local newspaper access to trial exhibits in a 2011 child murder case. The justices also ruled that the case was not moot despite the fact that the contested documents sought by the Newport News Daily Press were released to the public two years ago.
FBI to release records on secret informant Ernest Withers
February 28, 2013
As part of a settlement agreement between the FBI and a Tennessee newspaper, the bureau must release documents and photos that are expected to confirm that famed civil rights photographer Ernest Withers was a confidential informant during the civil rights era. Withers died in 2007.
Dismissal of N.Y. journalist's libel suit against critic upheld
February 26, 2013
A New York appellate panel upheld the dismissal of a defamation suit filed by a journalist against a prominent AIDS activist who criticized her articles about the disease.
Judge rules Ill. eavesdropping law unconstitutional
February 25, 2013
A former Illinois elementary school principal cannot be charged under the state's controversial eavesdropping law because the law was not narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, rendering it unconstitutional, a judge ruled last week. Circuit Judge David Akemann dismissed the Geneva School District’s lawsuit against employee Margaret Pennington because Illinois’ eavesdropping law punishes innocent conduct while restricting the ability of individuals to record conversations.
D.C. Circuit ponders court's role in scrutinizing national security claims under FOIA
February 21, 2013
Federal appellate judges on Thursday examined whether the executive branch gets the last word in classifying documents under the Freedom of Information Act's national security exemption.
Federal judge blocks New York City subpoena for Ken Burns's "Central Park Five" outtakes
February 20, 2013
Ken Burns and his production company, Florentine Films, overcame efforts by New York City officials to forcibly seek the release of outtakes and footage from his recent film about five men wrongly convicted in the attack and rape of a Central Park jogger.
Supreme Court debates if access to public information is a fundamental right
February 20, 2013
In oral arguments today, U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned whether access to public records is a fundamental right in a case that will determine whether a state can prohibit non-citizens from obtaining its records. However, the justices expressed skepticism over whether the purported administrative burdens states face when responding to records requests by non-citizens actually exist.
Judge restrains journalist from writing about Haitian prime minister, businessman
February 19, 2013
A federal judge in Miami ordered a Haitian-American journalist to never again publish anything about the prime minister of Haiti or a Florida businessman, as part of a defamation judgment. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and businessman Patrice Baker sued Leo Joseph and the Haiti-Observateur, a New York City-based, bi-language Haitian newspaper managed by Joseph.
N.Y. judge dismisses portion of coach's wife's libel suit against ESPN
February 19, 2013
A New York judge dismissed a portion of a libel suit against ESPN because the statements in question were reported from court documents and therefore protected under the state's fair report privilege.
Judge rules D.C. detective was wrongly punished for speaking to reporter
February 14, 2013
A Washington, D.C., judge found that the Metropolitan Police Department’s media policy is constitutional, but how the department enforced it against a detective who spoke out against it to a newspaper in 2009 was unlawful. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that Detective William Hawkins did not break department rules when he talked to a Washington Post reporter because he spoke as a representative of a police union and not a member of the department.