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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.

    Content Regulation

    This section covers government attempts to regulate certain kinds of content, from the Federal Communications Commission's regulation of broadcasting (specifically indecency) to legislative attempts to "rein in" the Internet. It also covers copyright law, and the use of copyrighted works is regulated by law.

    Supreme Court upholds fleeting expletive ban

    Samantha Fredrickson | Content Regulation | Feature | April 28, 2009
    Samantha Fredrickson
    Feature
    April 28, 2009

    The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a government policy of sanctioning television networks for one-time utterances of fleeting expletives on live prime-time television.

    Oral arguments held over proposed Webcast in filesharing case

    Kathleen Cullinan | Content Regulation | Quicklink | April 8, 2009
    Kathleen Cullinan
    Quicklink
    April 8, 2009

    The Globe has a report on oral arguments today in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston (1st Cir.) over whether a federal judge was right to approve live Webcast of a hearing in an illegal filesharing case.

    AP aims to curb unauthorized online use of its content

    Ahnalese Rushmann | Content Regulation | Quicklink | April 7, 2009
    Ahnalese Rushmann
    Quicklink
    April 7, 2009

    The Associated Press on Monday announced new efforts to contain the rapid online spread of its content, saying legal action will be taken against any Web site or online news aggregator that uses an AP story without first obtaining permission.

    Court rules AP’s “hot news” claim can go forward

    Rory Eastburg | Content Regulation | Feature | February 20, 2009
    Rory Eastburg
    Feature
    February 20, 2009

    A federal court in New York on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit by The Associated Press that claims a competing news service, All Headline News Corp., misappropriated its news content by drafting stories based on AP reports.

    Gossipy college Web site goes offline

    Samantha Fredrickson | Content Regulation | Quicklink | February 9, 2009
    Samantha Fredrickson
    Quicklink
    February 9, 2009

    A gossip Web site that took college campuses by storm has shut down.

    As of Feb. 5, JuicyCampus is no longer up and running, according to The Associated Press. CEO Matt Ivester, who founded the site in 2007, said in a statement online that “in these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved."

    AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama photo

    Ahnalese Rushmann | Content Regulation | Quicklink | February 5, 2009
    Ahnalese Rushmann
    Quicklink
    February 5, 2009

    Artist Shepard Fairey has admitted that his iconic red, white and blue "Hope" image of President Obama was based on a photograph taken by a photojournalist on assignment for The Associated Press. Now, The AP is claiming the copyright and demanding credit and compensation from Fairey, according to the news wire's report.

    Sorting out ownership of a Web link

    A lawsuit over linking among Boston publications highlights the murky rules of propriety in sharing on the Internet
    Feature
    Page Number: 
    27
    Samantha Fredrickson

    From the Winter 2009 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 27.

    Though copyright law has long protected writers from unwanted reproduction of their material, the Internet has made it simple to cut, paste and link with the click of a mouse.

    A lede here and a paragraph there &emdash; how much is too much? Lawsuits over shared headlines and links in recent years have driven this intensifying debate over the boundaries of the law. And no court has yet definitively set the limits.

    The News Media and The Law, Winter 2009

    FCC Commissioner calls for clarification on Fairness Doctrine

    Cristina Abello | Content Regulation | Quicklink | January 29, 2009
    Cristina Abello
    Quicklink
    January 29, 2009

    FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell on Wednesday urged President Obama to clarify his position on any potential reinstatement of the Commission’s now-defunct Fairness Doctrine, in a Media Institute speech at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington.

    Boston.com settles suit over linking

    Samantha Fredrickson | Content Regulation | Feature | January 26, 2009
    Samantha Fredrickson
    Feature
    January 26, 2009

    The copyright lawsuit between GateHouse Media and The New York Times Co. over linking articles on the Internet was settled this week, just one day before trial was to begin in the case.

    GateHouse sued The New York Times Co. last month after The Boston Globe, which the Times Co. owns, began aggregating on its Web site headlines, leads and links from local news sites owned by GateHouse.

    FCC reviewing Golden Globes "middle finger" incident

    Ahnalese Rushmann | Content Regulation | Feature | January 16, 2009
    Ahnalese Rushmann
    Feature
    January 16, 2009

    The FCC says it has received 18 complaints about NBC's Golden Globes telecast last weekend and will now review one incident, in which a director was briefly seen giving the middle finger, for adherence to the agency's indecency rules, reports the Los Angeles Times.