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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: 2013-05-07
Format: 2013-05-07
Iowa high court lifts gag order
April 19, 1994
Iowa high court lifts gag order 04/19/1994 IOWA -- The Iowa Supreme Court in early April lifted a gag order banning the publication of the identity of a man arrested in a prostitution sting.
Tapes of closed meetings are public records
April 19, 1994
Tapes of closed meetings are public records 04/19/1994 NEW JERSEY -- Tapes made during closed government meetings are common law public records, subject to the removal of any confidential or privileged information before disclosure, the Supreme Court ruled in late March. "Blanket access to the tapes would not be required;" the court said, "rather, access could be limited to those portions of the tapes necessary to vindicate the public interest."
Prosecutor's gang information may be public under Arkansas open records act
April 19, 1994
Prosecutor's gang information may be public under Arkansas open records act 04/19/1994 ARKANSAS -- Gang membership information from a prosecutor's files may be available under the state Freedom of Information Act, the Supreme Court ruled in late March.
Agency must disclose addresses of landowners who sold property to federal government
April 19, 1994
Agency must disclose addresses of landowners who sold property to federal government 04/19/1994 MAINE -- The Fish and Wildlife Service must make the home addresses of private landowners who sold their land to the agency available to a member of a property rights organization in Maine, the federal district court in Bangor ruled in mid-April.
FOI Act requires computer search of records
April 19, 1994
FOI Act requires computer search of records 04/19/1994 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal District Court in Washington, D.C., in mid-March ruled that the Freedom of Information Act requires the government to conduct an electronic search for requested records that do not necessarily lie in a single computer document or file unless the information is exempt or the search is too onerous.
Jury awards $985,000 for headline error
April 19, 1994
Jury awards $985,000 for headline error 04/19/94 INDIANA -- An Albion jury awarded a restaurant operator $985,000 in damages in late March in a libel suit over an inaccurate headline, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutor in commuter-train shootings case seeks gag order on attorneys
April 19, 1994
Prosecutor in commuter-train shootings case seeks gag order on attorneys 04/19/1994 NEW YORK -- The prosecutor in the Long Island Railway shootings case asked for a gag order in early April, barring the defendant's attorneys from speaking publicly about the case.
Teachers can protest disclosure of information, high court rules
April 19, 1994
Teachers can protest disclosure of information, high court rules 04/19/1994 KENTUCKY -- Teachers have the right to protest the disclosure of potentially embarrassing information about them under the personal privacy exemption to the Open Records Act, the Supreme Court ruled in late March.
Retrial set in Masson libel suit
April 19, 1994
Retrial set in Masson libel suit 04/19/1994 CALIFORNIA -- In early April Judge Eugene Lynch of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco scheduled a retrial for Sept. 29 in psychoanalyst Jeffrey Masson's libel suit against Janet Malcolm of the New Yorker, the Associated Press reported.
CNN charged with contempt for airing tapes
April 5, 1994
CNN charged with contempt for airing tapes 04/05/1994 FLORIDA -- Three and half years after telecasting excerpts from taped telephone conversations of Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega despite a gag order, the Cable News Network was charged with criminal contempt of court in late March.
Philip Morris files $10 billion libel suit
April 5, 1994
Philip Morris files $10 billion libel suit 04/05/1994 VIRGINIA -- Philip Morris Cos. filed a libel suit against ABC in late March, following two "Day One" broadcasts that suggested tobacco companies add nicotine to cigarettes so that smokers become addicted. The suit, filed in state circuit court in Richmond, seeks $5 billion in compensatory damages and $5 billion in punitive damages. An ABC spokesman said the network stands by its reporting, the Associated Press reported.
National Security Council claims it is not subject to FOI Act
April 5, 1994
National Security Council claims it is not subject to FOI Act 04/05/1994 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- National Security Council executive secretary William Itoh in late March directed the agency's records management chief William Leary to revoke NSC's Freedom of Information Act regulations, claiming NSC exists solely to advise the President and is therefore not subject to the FOI Act.
Opinion column not defamatory, Utah court rules
April 5, 1994
Opinion column not defamatory, Utah court rules 04/05/1994 UTAH -- The Utah Supreme Court ruled in late March that a newspaper did not defame a mayor when it published an opinion column accusing him of attempting to manipulate the press. The court also ruled that a column's implication that the mayor reversed his position on an issue to get elected was an opinion protected by the state constitution.
Recruitment contracts are public, Wyoming high court rules
April 5, 1994
Recruitment contracts are public, Wyoming high court rules 04/05/1994 WYOMING -- After the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in mid-March that physician recruitment contracts are public records, the Gillette News-Record discovered a local hospital promised doctors up to $50,000 a month to relocate there.
Commissioners' walk at wetland site held to be a meeting
April 5, 1994
Commissioners' walk at wetland site held to be a meeting 04/05/1994 CONNECTICUT -- An environmental "site walk" by wetland commissioners was a meeting that the public was entitled to attend unconditionally, a superior court ruled in early March.