QUICKLINK   Michigan · July 2, 2009 · Internet regulation

Tweeting from the jury box soon to be banned in Michigan

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Starting in September, Michigan jurors will no longer be allowed to send text messages, "tweet" or engage in other forms of electronic communication during trials.

The Michigan Supreme Court established the new rule Tuesday in an attempt to prevent distraction and outside information from influencing trial outcomes, according to the National Law Journal. The new rule requires that jurors be instructed ahead of time that electronic devices like Blackberrys and iPhones may not be used in the . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 12:34 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Hawaii · July 2, 2009 · Libel

Court upholds dismissal of libel claims in Hawaii case

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A state appellate court in Hawaii has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a suspected serial killer against two publications.

Waldorf Roy Wilson sued Honolulu Magazine and The Garden Island newspaper for libel, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress after the two publications reported on a police investigation into the rapes of three women, two of whom were also killed. Police investigating the attacks questioned Wilson, who had already served time for rape and kidnapping and was out on parole.

Wilson was never arrested or charged in that case, but the magazine and the newspaper did report that he was questioned. Wilson filed suit, alleging that he was defamed in that the publications accused him of being the killer.

The lower court granted summary judgment for the defendants on all claims, and the appellate court upheld that decision.

Regarding the libel claims, the court ruled that none of the articles factually said  Wilson was the killer; they merely reported that he was a suspect. The court . . . [more]

— Samantha Fredrickson, 12:32 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Kentucky · July 1, 2009 · Newsgathering

Louisville newspaper sues over anti-litter ordinance

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The Louisville Courier-Journal is suing the Louisville city government over an anti-litter ordinance the paper says violates its constitutional rights.

The ordinance, which was approved in June, makes it illegal to distribute unsolicited written materials to homes or business unless they are placed on a porch, in a mailbox, at the front door or in the hands of the owner. The . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 6:01 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Hawaii · July 1, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Hawaiian filmmaker looks to invoke reporter's privilege

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A documentary filmmaker in Hawaii who has covered native burial practices might be the first person to assert the state's new shield law, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Land developer Joseph Brescia, who has been frustrated in an effort to build on a site where 30 graves were found, is suing the people he claims delayed his plans. According to the AP, he subpoenaed filmmaker Keoni Kealoha Alvarez, seeking unpublished footage and interviews. Alvarez, who is not a party in the lawsuit, said he . . . [more]

— Lucas Tanglen, 5:41 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Florida · June 30, 2009 · State open government

Florida governor vetoes exemptions to public records law

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Florida Governor Charlie Crist last week barred two new exemptions from being added to the state's public records law when he vetoed a pair of bills approved by state lawmakers.

The first would have shielded from public disclosure any "proprietary business information" the Department of Management received from a telecommunications or broadband company. According to The Associated Press, Crist found the term "proprietary business information" too broad to define an exemption, but he encouraged lawmakers to rewrite the bill next year.

The First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee opposed the bill and tried to get it narrowed during the legislative session. But the group did not recommend the governor veto the measure.

"That definition is so broad you could drive a truck through it," said Barbara Peterson, the First Amendment Foundation's president. "We found [the bill] very problematic and certainly are very pleased that he did veto it."

The First Amendment Foundation did recommend Crist block the other bill, which he also . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:54 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Washington, D.C. · June 29, 2009 · Freedom of information

FOIA attorney's fee change not retroactive, court says

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A federal appeals court has decided for the first time that the 2007 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act dealing with attorney’s fees are not retroactive.

The decision, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, resolves differing trial court opinions on whether a FOIA requester whose case had concluded prior to the enactment of the 2007 amendments ought to have attorney’s fees awarded under the new, more liberal standard or the prior, more restrictive one.

The unanimous opinion, written by Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg for the three-judge panel in Summers v. Department of Justice, said applying the new fees provision retroactively would unfairly subject the federal government to increased liability.

“The Government’s calculus in settling Summer’s case would have been different had it known the Buckhannon rule” -- the previous standard for awarding attorney fees -- “would not apply; its . . . [more]

— Hannah Bergman, 4:57 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   California · June 29, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Author subpoenaed and barred from attending criminal trial

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A freelance reporter writing a book about a psychiatrist's child molestation case has been called as a witness in the trial and kicked out of the courtroom, according to the San Mateo County Times.

Victoria Balfour, a former reporter for People magazine, is writing a book about the case of Dr. William Ayres, a 77-year-old child psychiatrist who was arrested in 2007 on charges of molesting some of his young patients. His trial in San Mateo County Superior Court is now . . . [more]

— Samantha Fredrickson, 4:46 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Kentucky · June 29, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Kentucky lawsuit seeks anonymous commenter's identity

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A Kentucky woman is seeking the identity of an Internet commenter who she says defamed her on a newspaper forum, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports. The newspaper is trying to use Kentucky's shield law to protect the commenter's information. 

Kymberly Clem sued the anonymous commenter, who left a message on a forum linked to The Richmond Register, last year. The Register had written a . . . [more]

— Jonathan Jones, 4:27 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   U.S. Supreme Court · June 29, 2009 · Prior restraints

Supreme Court to reconsider campaign finance laws

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The Supreme Court said today it would rehear a case about how the government may regulate corporate and union speech related to elections. The Court will hear new arguments in a special session on Sept. 9.

The case, Citizens United v. FEC, deals with the Federal Election Commission’s attempt to regulate a 90-minute political film in the run-up to a presidential election. Hillary: The Movie, a caustic take on Hillary Clinton’s White House bid, was produced by the group Citizens United. A federal district court held that the film’s distribution could be regulated in the run-up to the 2008 elections under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold Act.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on March 24.

Its order today suggested that the justices want to look more broadly at the . . . [more]

— Rory Eastburg, 4:22 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Massachusetts · June 26, 2009 · Freedom of information

Massachusetts ethics reform bill amends open meetings law

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The Massachusetts Legislature passed an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws Thursday, which supporters lauded as much-needed reform.

But the bill, now before Gov. Deval Patrick, weakens further what were already weak penalties in the state’s open meetings law.

The Patriot-Ledger, in Quincy, editorialized against it Friday, saying the current law only contains a $1,000 fine against a . . . [more]

— Hannah Bergman, 6:22 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Louisiana · June 26, 2009 · State open government

Louisiana records bill headed to governor's desk

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A bill that would alter access to the Louisiana governor's official records received final approval from the state Senate Monday, and is on its way to the governor's desk.

The public records law now exempts from disclosure all but the financial records the governor's office maintains. Under the proposed change, the only exempt records would be those pertaining to the governor's security, schedule, communications among staff and "executive deliberations and work product."

The bill also allows the governor to withhold for six months any records of "pre-decisional advice and recommendations" provided by advisers or other agencies on budget matters. Gov. Bobby Jindal has been an active supporter of the bill.

Critics contend the measure purports to narrow the governor's exemption but actually takes more items out of the public domain.

Carl Redman, executive editor of the Baton Rouge Advocate, called the measure "horribly convoluted." He said the "vague" definition of documents now up for exemption will allow for more . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:52 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   7th Cir. · June 25, 2009 · Newsgathering

Court upholds ban on death-row interviews

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A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a regulation barring prisoners on death row in the federal system from meeting with reporters. In doing so, a majority of Seventh Circuit judges set a low bar for determining when an inmate's constitutional rights can be infringed upon, over the objections of several dissenting judges.

The majority opinion in Hammer v. Ashcroft, written by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook, based its decision heavily upon the concept that the news media has "no constitutional right of access to prisons or their inmates beyond that afforded to the general public," citing Pell v. Procunier. However, in Hammer it was not a reporter, but a prisoner, who asserted a right to interview.

Death row inmate David Hammer sued Bureau of Prisons officials in 2001, after he was denied face-to-face interviews with the media. Between August and December 1999, Hammer participated in three interviews at a prison in Terre Haute, Ind. In 2000, he learned the prison had changed its rules and wouldn't allow him to speak in-person to members of the . . . [more]

— Lucas Tanglen, 7:28 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   New Mexico · June 25, 2009 · Libel

CBS libel case to go to jury on actual malice

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CBS could have acted with actual malice when it broadcast a story about a government employee who was investigated for allegations she had used federal dollars to buy a Ford Mustang, a federal court in New Mexico has ruled.

The network had reported several times on the government's investigations into Lillian Anaya, a procurement assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory until she was suspended in 2002. Anaya had been the target of internal and FBI inquiries for her alleged use of a company credit card to purchase a $30,000 customized Mustang.

Anaya sued the network in 2006 for libel over its coverage of her case. The U.S. District Court ruled that Anaya, though not a public figure initially, became a limited purpose public figure in 2003 after she thrust herself into the media. The court then went on to find possible evidence of actual malice in regard to some statements made during the last two CBS broadcasts that would have to go to a jury. The court found no evidence of actual malice in many of the earlier broadcasts.

The ruling initially came down in December and . . . [more]

— Samantha Fredrickson, 7:10 pm   ·   View reader comments (1)

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Minnesota · June 25, 2009 · Libel

Internet posting can lead to privacy claim, court finds

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Posting private information about someone on the Internet is enough to allow an invasion-of-privacy claim no matter how many people actually see it, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held this week. 

In the published opinion, the court created a broad rule "that the publicity element of an invasion-of-privacy claim is satisfied when private information is posted on a publicly accessible Internet website."

The case centers on a MySpace profile set up in 2006 mocking the plaintiff. The profile, under the name "Rotten Candy," included a picture of the plaintiff. It said she had a sexually transmitted disease, was cheating on her husband and was addicted to plastic surgery.

The woman had recently learned that she had a sexually transmitted disease after going to Fairview Cedar Ridge Clinic. A medical assistant who is related to the plaintiff's husband worked at the clinic. After seeing the woman there, the assistant became curious and accessed the plaintiff's medical file without authorization.

The medical assistant then told another relative, . . . [more]

— Jonathan Jones, 4:46 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   U.S. · June 25, 2009 · Prior restraints

Ex-CIA employee accuses agency of interfering with columns

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A Washington Examiner columnist and former CIA employee believes the agency's delays in approving his articles for publication amount to "low-level harassment," Congressional Quarterly reported.

Stephen Lee is required by an agreement with the CIA to submit his Examiner columns as well as cartoons for his own Web site to the agency's Publications . . . [more]

— Lucas Tanglen, 12:01 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   U.S. · June 24, 2009 · Newsgathering

Stars and Stripes reporter banned from embed

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A reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes has been banned from returning to his embedded post with an Army unit in Mosul, Iraq, on the grounds that he "refused to highlight" good news about the war, according to media reports.

Stars and Stripes editorial director Terry Leonard said the military did approve an embedded position for the paper but with one caveat -- the reporter assigned to it could not be Heath Druzin, who followed the same unit on tours in February and March. Leonard said several reasons were given, including claims that Druzin wrote imbalanced reports and misquoted people.

Stars and Stripes quoted a written statement by an Army public affairs officer, Major Ramona Bellard, who asserted that Druzin had refused to focus on favorable news coming out of Mosul, "despite the opportunity (for him) to visit areas of the city where Iraqi Army leaders, soldiers, national police, and Iraqi police displayed a commitment to partnership."

Stars and Stripes is a military-authorized paper.

Leonard told the . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:12 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   D.C. Cir. · June 24, 2009 · Freedom of information

OMB redactions found to exceed FOIA exemptions in records case

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Much of the information the Office of Management and Budget refused to give a public watchdog group as requested must be released because it is not covered by FOIA exemptions, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington (D.C. Cir.) ruled last week.

In a puzzling twist, given the majority of the panel's expressed respect for the public's right to know, the court redacted large portions of its own opinion. The reason, the court said, was to avoid publicizing information that had not yet been disclosed, to . . . [more]

— Lucas Tanglen, 4:31 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   U.S. Supreme Court · June 24, 2009 · Prior restraints

Supreme Court to decide animal-cruelty video case

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The Supreme Court will decide next term whether the First Amendment applies to recordings and pictures that depict animal cruelty.

But the implications of the case go well beyond the issue of animal cruelty. The Court may also revisit two fundamental issues of First Amendment law – how easily the government may categorically ban entire categories of speech, and when a law may be struck down as “overbroad” because it has a chilling effect on protected speech.

The case, which is currently being briefed, could mark the first time in more than 25 years that the Court finds a category of speech unprotected by the First Amendment.

The case, U.S. v. Stevens, concerns a federal law that punishes with up to five years in prison  anyone who “knowingly creates, sells, or possesses a depiction of animal cruelty with the intention of placing that depiction in interstate or foreign commerce for commercial gain.” The law contains an exception for “serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic . . . [more]

— Rory Eastburg, 4:22 pm   ·   View reader comments (1)

 QUICKLINK   Louisiana · June 23, 2009 · State open government

Louisiana House passes records bill

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The Louisiana Senate is on deck again to vote on language the House approved for a bill that would publicize more information from the governor's office but at the same time keep some currently public budget records secret for six months, according to The Associated Press.

Despite the efforts of transparency advocates to place the governor's office more squarely under the public records law, The Times-Picayune says, . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 6:02 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   6th Cir. · June 22, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Free Press fights former prosecutor's 'fishing expedition'

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In a court filing Monday, the Detroit Free Press accused former U.S. prosecutor Richard Convertino of conducting a "quintessential fishing expedition" as the paper continued to fight a subpoena in Convertino's Privacy Act lawsuit.

In a reply to Convertino's latest arguments to compel the Free Press to give testimony and documents relating to the identity of reporter David Ashenfelter's source, the newspaper insisted Convertino was seeking too much information. Convertino is asking for information regarding all stories the Free Press has published about him.

The newspaper counters that the only relevant story is the one in which Ashenfelter, relying on an anonymous Department of Justice source, reported that Convertino was the subject of an internal inquiry over his conduct in an earlier terrorism prosecution. The leak of that tip is at the heart of Convertino's Privacy Act suit.

"[T]he Free Press is not a library," the newspaper asserts in its most recent . . . [more]

— Lucas Tanglen, 5:29 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 PRESS RELEASE   New Hampshire · June 22, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Reporters Committee asks court to apply reporter's privilege to Web site

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The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is urging the New Hampshire Supreme Court to protect the identity of a confidential source used by an online news Web site that covers the mortgage industry.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed jointly by the Reporters Committee and the Citizen Media Law Project in The Mortgage Specialists v. Implode Explode Heavy Industries, the organizations argued that news Web site Implode-O-Meter, which aggregates news coverage of the mortgage industry, should have the same First Amendment protections as traditional media.

"There's no question that Implode-O-Meter was doing journalism when it published the . . . [more]

— Posted at 5:23 pm   ·   View reader comments (3)

 QUICKLINK   Minnesota · June 22, 2009 · Secret courts

Court denies request to keep boy's medical records sealed

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A request from a Minnesota boy and his parents for a court order sealing his medical records was denied last week, The Associated Press reports.

According to the AP, Brown County Judge John Rodenberg decided that since Daniel Hauser's refusal to be treated for childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma has already become national news, the public has an overriding interest in access to the full story about the boy's medical record as it was filed in court papers. 

Earlier this year, Rodenberg ordered Hauser to . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:14 pm   ·   View reader comments (1)

 QUICKLINK   Nevada · June 22, 2009 · Reporter's privilege

Las Vegas paper to comply with narrowed subpoena

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Even as the Las Vegas Review-Journal said it will cooperate with a narrowed subpoena from federal prosecutors for information about two anonymous comments left below an online news story, the ACLU announced it would seek to quash the subpoenas on behalf of the commenters, the paper reported last week.

The newspaper resisted an earlier subpoena that sought information about more than 100 comments posted to the story. The paper's reporting on a tax evasion trial . . . [more]

— Jonathan Jones, 2:42 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Washington, D.C. · June 19, 2009 · Freedom of information

Dept. of Justice takes up Bush arguments in FOIA case

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The Obama Justice Department has advanced yet another Bush administration argument in a government transparency case, this time pushing to withhold former Vice President Cheney's deposition in the long-since concluded Valerie Plame leak case.

In a hearing before Judge Emmet Sullivan Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Justice Department attorney Jeffrey M. Smith told the judge that if Cheney's statements "were published, then a future vice president asked to provide candid information during a criminal probe might refuse to do so out of concern ‘that . . . [more]

— Hannah Bergman, 11:25 am   ·   Comments: 0

 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE   Tennessee · June 18, 2009 · State open government

Bill to seal gun permits falls short in Tennessee

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Open government advocates in Tennessee have narrowly succeeded in blocking passage of a measure that would have barred public access to gun permits, according to The Associated Press.

Frank Gibson, the executive director of the Coalition for Open Government in Tennessee, told the Reporters Committee earlier this year he thought it would be difficult to stop the measure. But in an interview Thursday he said key lawmakers in the Senate were able to turn the focus of the debate, just before the measure fell short by three votes, away from concerns about gun owners' privacy rights and toward the open government implications.

The legislators first voted down an amendment Gibson's group backed, which would have sealed the statewide permit database yet left the actual permits open on the local level. But in the process of discussing that amendment, he said, the lawmakers "shifted the discussion from gun rights to government records." By the time the vote was tallied on the bill sealing all permit data, he . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:55 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Washington, D.C. · June 18, 2009 · Freedom of information

Senate passes bill to withhold torture photos

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The U.S. Senate passed a bill Wednesday night allowing the president to withhold the controversial photos of detainees being tortured while in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The bill, which the Senate had previously attached to the supplemental appropriations bill for the war, now goes to the House. The House had removed the . . . [more]

— Caitlin Dickson, 5:53 pm   ·   Comments: 0

 QUICKLINK   Washington, D.C. · June 18, 2009 · Freedom of information

Trade group tries to block release of private plane data

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A trade group went to court this week trying to block the Federal Aviation Administration from going forward with a planned Freedom of Information Act release of information about corporate jets, ProPublica reports.

The National Business Aviation Association asked a federal court in Washington, D.C. to bar the FAA from saying which corporations wanted the tail numbers on their jets kept from the public. ProPublica reports it requested the records and the FAA had agreed to release . . . [more]

— Hannah Bergman, 4:18 pm   ·   Comments: 0

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