Georgia

GEORGIA-- Media organizations could be taxed for reporting crime stories under a bill introduced in early February in the Georgia General Assembly.

GEORGIA--A Superior Court judge in Decatur granted a defense motion for a mistrial in late July after one witness saw another key witness's testimony on Court TV.

Tracy Rhames, who has spent 20 years trying to prove her father, Jan Barry Sandlin, killed her two-year-old brother, admitted in court that she disobeyed the judge's order and watched her mother's testimony on Court TV.

ROUNDUP--On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court held that two provisions of the Communications Decency Act, criminalizing the conveyance of "indecent" and "patently offensive" material to minors or the display of such material in a manner available to minors, impermissibly abridged the free speech provision of the First Amendment.

GEORGIA--Under the state shield law, a news organization does not have to turn over unaired videotape to a company that is merely gathering evidence in anticipation of a possible lawsuit, according to a Superior Court in Atlanta.

GEORGIA--Almost six months after a Federal Bureau of Investigation leak identified him as the number-one suspect in last summer's bombing in Centennial Olympic Park, Richard Jewell remains at the center of controversies over the handling of the investigation.

GEORGIA--A federal District Court in Atlanta on Oct. 23 ordered the release of affidavits submitted by the FBI in connection with its investigation of Richard Jewell, the security guard who on Oct. 26 was cleared of involvement in the July bombing at Centennial Olympic Park and who has said he will sue media organizations that reported he was the suspect.

GEORGIA--On the eve of his execution, convicted killer Ellis Wayne Felker was given a 40-day stay by the state Supreme Court so that a lower court could determine if government officials violated the state Open Records Laws when they delayed providing Felker records he had requested more than a year ago.

GEORGIA--In late July, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled that city officials had come "perilously close to criminal contempt" by stopping delivery of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution at the Hartsfield International Airport because drivers lacked the proper security clearance, after another federal judge had prohibited officials from enforcing restrictions on newspaper racks and newspaper deliveries a week before.

GEORGIA--In late June, NBC Sports, the holder of exclusive broadcast rights for the Atlanta Olympics, announced guidelines prohibiting all other American broadcasting companies from airing news conferences live from the main press center at the games, or using taped versions of the conferences until 30 minutes after they end.

Non-rightsholders are barred from all Olympic venues and may only bring cameras into the main press center.

GEORGIA--In early July, an amendment to the state Computer Systems Protection Act took effect, prohibiting the use of any name, trade name, trademark, or copyrighted symbol that "falsely" identifies a party transmitting information via the Internet or "falsely implies" that the party has permission to "use" the name, trademark or symbol.