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.
A large, well-trained law enforcement presence and fewer, more peaceful protesters allowed the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. to run smoothly and prevented journalists’ arrests, according to police and lawyers who followed the events.
Summary of statute(s): An individual who has the consent of one of the parties to either an in-person conversation or electronic communication can lawfully record it or disclose its contents. N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 15A-287 (West 2012).
A North Carolina appellate court reversed part of a lower court's decision on Tuesday that could reignite a county judge's defamation lawsuit against a citizen activist for statements he made on Facebook criticizing sitting judges' support of a state senatorial candidate. The court held the activist was not constitutionality protected for making false statements, even if he claimed they were his personal opinion.
A coalition of media groups challenged restrictions on media coverage in an upcoming murder trial in North Carolina Superior Court. The restrictions limit local media's coverage of police and FBI witnesses, as well as media access to areas inside and outside of the court. They are in response to motions from the prosecution and the court's orderon its own motion.
A North Carolina judge has ordered an online-news editor to produce the names of six anonymous posters who allegedly posted defamatory comments on his website, although one of them identified himself this morning on a local AM radio station.
A North Carolina state judge has sealed the deposition of former presidential candidate John Edwards' mistress for at least 45 days, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Rielle Hunter sued former Edwards aide Andrew Young and his wife Cheri for the return of an alleged sex tape of Rielle and Edwards.
A federal judge in North Carolina said that the state's media outlets will not have to turn over more than two years' worth of stories and reader comments about a murder in response to a subpoena from the accused killer, The Newsroom Law Blogreported.
A North Carolina newspaper editor will fight a subpoena for his notes and testimony in an obstruction of justice case against a county sheriff, news@normanreported.
Multiple North Carolina municipalities have not created or maintained an index of public databases more than a decade after a law was passed requiring them to do so, The Garner Citizenreported.
