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.
Philadelphia plans to bar reporters from attending a city-run conference this week where public officials will discuss the city’s finances and budget in an effort to attract potential investors.
The two-day Philadelphia Investor Conference, which begins Thursday, is considered a private meeting under Pennsylvania’s Open Meetings Act, said Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Michael Nutter, the city’s mayor.
A federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., ruled Tuesday that a protocol limiting the ability of witnesses to see and hear all phases of an execution violates the First Amendment-based right of public access to judicial proceedings.
The court in Philadelphia Inquirer v. Wetzel ruled that because historically witnesses have been permitted full access to executions and such access would not jeopardize the safety of lethal injection administrators, all phases of execution procedures must be accessible to the public.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that a law governing coroner records does not prevent the state from disclosing information on how a person died when requested under the state's open records law.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ protocol for executions violates the First Amendment-based right of public access to judicial proceedings, two local newspapers argued in a lawsuit filed against the agency earlier this week.
Summary of statute(s): It is unlawful to record either an in-person conversation or electronic communication without the consent of all parties. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 5704 (West 2012).
The city of Pittsburgh settled a federal lawsuit with a journalist who claimed he was arrested and wrongfully detained under harsh conditions for 12 hours after covering protests of the Group of 20 economic summit three years ago.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held Monday that written requests for records that do not comply with certain agency-specific request policies cannot merely be ignored.
After reporters asked for clarification on a judicial order that allowed them to tweet -- with one restriction -- during the Jerry Sandusky trial, a Pennsylvania judge changed his mind Monday and banned all electronic communication in the courtroom.
