News Media and the Law

In this column, the Reporters Committee attorneys discuss hot-topic questions related to recent issues in media law. Here are our answers.Note: The attorneys' answers are not meant to be relied upon as legal advice specific to any reader's situation....

Florida carves out another exemption to its open records law in the name of protecting privacy interests of family membersFlorida's reputation for having one of the best open records laws in the country has been seriously threatened by the recent passage...

Highlights continued issues with unlawful searches of journalistsThomas Mink never thought he'd become notorious for the project he came up with as a 24-year-old student who was riled up about conservative politics. But today, his lengthy court battle...

First win at grand jury and trial levels is a marked difference from prior high-profile battlesA New York Times investigative reporter will not have to reveal the identity of his confidential source when he testifies in die criminal trial of an alleged...

Public officials do not engage in protected First Amendment speech when they vote on public matters, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in June. The Court's decision, which rejected a local politician's assertion that a state recusal law violated his free...

The Fourth Circuit recently upheld a libel by omission claim, saying a TV broadcast may have produced a false implicationIn the summer of 2008, a West Virginia woman called a local television station to report that her four-year-old son had been sexually...

A collection of notable quotations"A criminal trial subpoena is not a free pass for the government to rifle through a reporter's notebook."- U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in a memorandum opinion dated July 29, 2011, quashing a trial subpoena of...

Court rejects attempt to create "wholly new category of content-based regulation" of speechOn the final day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to carve out another category of speech from First Amendment protection, striking down...

In spare time, reporter researches and writes several legal filingsWhen a U.S. District Court in Texas imposed a gag order in a case involving a Saudi citizen accused of trying to target the home of former President George W. Bush in a bomb attack, journalist...

Some are concerned about lack of information on contract workersYour federal Freedom of Information Act request may not actually be processed by a government employee.With pressure for increased transparency from the Obama administration, many federal...

An increasing number of cases filed under seal at the Supreme Court troubles media access advocatesIn 2009, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources filed a child abuse and neglect petition against Carolyn Mallo and Alexander Doran....