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.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court earlier this month ruled that the fair report privilege, which protects reporters from legal liability who quote from official sources and documents, can also apply to information obtained anonymously, the First Amendment Center reported.
The New Jersey Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning in the appeal of a 2008 libel ruling that considerably narrowed the state’s “fair report” privilege that protects journalists who report on information contained in court filings, Newark's The Star-Ledger reported.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has dismissed a libel lawsuit against the Russellville-based Courier News, ruling that the fair report privilege applies to police reports and provided the paper with a defense from the suit.
The Arkansas Supreme Court will soon decide whether the fair report privilege protects a local newspaper from a plaintiff's claims that it published false information from a police report.
Plaintiff Ryan Whiteside sued The Courier of Russellville, Ark., for defamation after the newspaper ran a story in 2007 that quoted from a police report alleging that a woman had been raped at Whiteside's home.
The Michigan Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a libel suit against the Detroit News.
The News was sued after it printed the names of convicted felons working in Michigan schools based on information the paper obtained through a state open records law request.
A New Jersey appellate court ruling that limited the defense of the fair report privilege has been temporarily suspended by the state’s Supreme Court.
Though the court has not determined if it will hear the appeal, the one-paragraph order it issued Tuesday suspends the effect of the appellate ruling in the meantime, essentially returning the law for now to the more media-friendly state it was in.
The Reporters Committee has signed on to a brief with 18 other news organizations asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to overturn a decision that narrowed the fair report privilege for court documents.
A New Jersey appellate court ruled last week that journalists can be subject to libel lawsuits for reporting the contents of a legal complaint.
Though the fair report privilege has long provided journalists with a defense to libel suits for stories that quote from official proceedings, the court held that the privilege only applies when journalists quote from court decisions -- not from court pleadings filed by individual parties.
A Pittsburgh attorney's defamation lawsuit against a newspaper publishing company has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin, who ruled that the content in question was permissible under the fair report privilege.
