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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.

    Fair report

    Libelous statements made by others in certain settings often are conditionally privileged if the reporter, in good faith, accurately reports information of public interest. This privilege usually applies to material from official meetings such as judicial proceedings, legislative hearings, city council meetings and grand jury deliberations, and may also apply to arrest reports and official statements. The reporter must fairly and accurately report the contents of the official report.

    Judge rules N.Y. newspaper protected by fair report privilege

    Jack Komperda | Libel | News | April 26, 2013
    Jack Komperda
    News
    April 26, 2013

    A New York trial court judge dismissed a defamation claim brought by a convicted sex offender against a local newspaper that reported on his arrest and guilty plea.

    Queens County Judge Sidney F. Strauss concluded this week that Wave Publishing Co., publishers of the weekly newspaper The Wave in Rockaway Beach, were protected by the state’s fair report privilege for a 2008 story concerning the criminal charges brought by local authorities against Jacek Marczewski, the custodian of a synagogue in Far Rockaway, Queens.

    N.Y. judge dismisses portion of coach's wife's libel suit against ESPN

    Lilly Chapa | Libel | News | February 19, 2013
    Lilly Chapa
    News
    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.

    Local weekly protected by privilege, Md. high court rules

    Chris Healy | Libel | Feature | January 24, 2012
    Chris Healy
    Feature
    January 24, 2012

    The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled this week that the Baltimore City Paper was protected by reporting privileges when it published information from the court record of a grisly, local murder trial -- information not used during the trial and potentially implicating another person not tried for the crime.

    Amicus Brief in Neely v. Wilson

    December 15, 2011
    application/pdf iconRCFP-TAB Amicus Br.pdf

    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.

    Reporters Committee urges Texas court to uphold protection for reporting third-party allegations

    Press Release | December 15, 2011
    December 15, 2011

    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend of the court brief urging the Texas Supreme Court to uphold a state law that protects journalists who accurately report on allegations made by third parties, even if those accusations ultimately are found to be false. The Texas Association of Broadcasters joined the brief.