Legal issues

Wall St. Journal to Make Web Site Free, Murdoch says

Update: After reports Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the News Corporation, says he expects to make access to The Wall Street Journal’s Web site free, a top Dow Jones executive told Editor and Publisher the comments were premature.

Continue reading "Wall St. Journal to Make Web Site Free, Murdoch says" ...

Nov 14, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS

Judge tells site to reveal anonymous commenters' names

A British court has ordered a site to reveal the names of anonymous commenters who criticized a football club.

The judge ordered that three fans whose postings might "reasonably be understood to allege greed, selfishness, untrustworthiness and dishonest behaviour", should be unmasked. Their right to maintain their anonymity and express themselves freely was outweighed by the directors' entitlement to take action to protect their reputation, he said.

Court orders obliging websites to disclose the identity of users posting anonymous defamatory remarks began in 2001.

Dominic Bray, of K&L Gates, Sheffield Wednesday's solicitors, said: "There seem to be quite a lot of websites that are using their anonymity to make comments about people and think that there shouldn't be any liability for it. But the internet is no different to any other place of publication, and if somebody is making defamatory comments about people then they should be held responsible for it. What these cases do is just confirm that's the law - the law applies to the internet as much as it does to anything else."

Oct 23, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS

News services protest Rugby World Cup restrictions

Among them: News organizations can't post more than 40 images online from matches in progress;, or more than three minutes of news conference or locker room video posted online per match.

Sep 6, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS

ONA Challenges NFL Reporting Rules

The ONA has sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell taking exception to the NFL's new policy that limits the use of online audio and video from team news conferences and interviews to no more than 45 seconds for a 24-hour period.

Aug 7, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS

Courier-Journal reporter ejected for blogging game

Wow: A Courier-Journal sports reporter had his media credential revoked and was ordered to leave the press box during the NCAA baseball super-regional this week because of what the NCAA alleged was a violation of its policies prohibiting live Internet updates from its championship events.

Jun 13, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS

Good take on NFL's new access policies Inbox

From News Tribune blogger Mike Sando:

The NFL under commissioner Roger Goodell has taken steps to improve media access to league personnel. A recently adopted access policy requires teams to make available coaches, players and front-office people at regular intervals. The league has also relaxed its policy on sideline TV crews.

Now comes a policy headed in the other direction. This one seeks to monopolize league-oriented audio and video content on the Web. The league is limiting sites such as this one to 45 seconds of league audio and video per day, with no archiving beyond 24 hours. The league wants fans to visit only league Web sites for audio and video featuring players, coaches and other league personnel. Like many policies, this one will have unintended consequences.

Jun 11, 2007 | E-MAIL THIS | PERMALINK | DISCUSS