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Everything MLRC has published, in any publication, since 2017.

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Sep 2023

Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer: Mike Grygiel

Greenberg Traurig attorney on his start in the business, representing Kathy Griffin, summer reads, golf, and more.

Aug 2023

Pennsylvania Legislators Introduce Anti-Slapp Legislation

Michael Berry

HB 1466 builds on UPEPA and the collective experience of states with existing anti-SLAPP laws, while accounting for distinctive features of Pennsylvania legal practice.

Aug 2023

D.C. Federal Court Says AI Generated Art Not Copyrightable

Alycia S. Tulloch

After the years-long saga surrounding whether a two-dimensional piece of artwork created by Dr. Thaler’s Creativity Machine could be registered as a copyright, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a final order stating that machine generated artwork is not copyrightable.

Aug 2023

Colorado Court Grants Anti-SLAPP Motions of Media Defendants Sued for Reporting on Health Company Fallout With State

Steve Zansberg and Lauren Russell

On August 15, a trial judge in Arapahoe County, Colorado became the fourth state jurist to dismiss libel claims against media companies applying Colorado’s anti-SLAPP Act, passed into law in 2019.

Aug 2023

FOIA Lawsuit Helps NPR Report On “Barbaric” and “Negligent” Conditions in ICE Detention Facilities

Max Mishkin, Emmy Parsons, and David Bodney

These records were released as the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in which the court compared the Government’s arguments to “a game of ‘Mad Libs.’”

Aug 2023

Court Affirms Fee Award Against Arizona Lawmakers Who Filed Groundless, Bad-Faith Defamation Lawsuit Against Political Rival

Kennison Lay

Plaintiffs’ pleadings were “riddled with irrelevant allegations” and “irrelevant arguments,” and their appeal was “both groundless and brought in bad faith.” 

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Aug 2023

Court Affirms Dismissal of Holocaust Complicity “Group Libel” Lawsuit

Damon Dunn

An Illinois appellate court affirmed dismissal of defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims over a Chicago Sun-Times column that ascribed “felonies under the laws of Illinois and Poland” to the “Plaintiffs and/or their families and Poles in general” when it referred to “widespread collaboration” in the killing of Jews during WWII.

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Aug 2023

Article Tying Nursing Home Magnate to Human Trafficking, Medicaid Fraud & Elder Abuse Protected As Fair Report, True, and Opinion

Alia Smith

Judge Azrack held that the challenged statements – concerning the poor quality of some of Landa’s nursing homes and alleged financial and other improprieties – were fair reports under N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 74, were substantially true, or were non-actionable opinions.

Aug 2023

A New Film: Floyd Abrams – Speaking Freely

George Freeman

Not only to get pumped up, and more than just to learn some legal history, I urge all members to watch this film on September 22nd. It will renew your faith and dedication to the goals and principles we are striving for. Though the hero of the piece appears to be Floyd, the co-hero really…

Aug 2023

New York Times Wins Defamation Suit Over Reporting on Internet Harassment Campaigns

The suit stemmed from a January 2021 story, in which Times reporter Kashmir Hill reported on the phenomenon of “complaint sites”: websites that allow people to hurl anonymous accusations online that then ricochet across the internet through a constellation of interconnected sites.

Aug 2023

Sheriff Ordered to Pay Station’s Attorney Fees After Withholding Recordings of Jailhouse Videocalls Which It Already Had Released

Eric P. Robinson

Judge Toal held that the recordings were public records in possession of a government agency, and thus subject to disclosure under FOIA.

Jul 2023

A Victory for Transparency in Uvalde

Reid Pillifant

More than a year after a gunman killed 19 students and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a judge has ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to release information about the attack and the law enforcement response.

Jul 2023

Maine Governor Vetoes Legislation Requiring News Outlets to Establish Unconstitutional Censorship Process for “Foreign Government-Influenced” Political Communications

Sigmund D. Schutz, Alexandra A. Harriman, and Margeaux E. Lavoie

No state has come closer than Maine to imposing on news outlets constitutionally fraught and onerous obligations to police and censor foreign-influenced spending on political advertising.

Jul 2023

“Server Test” Is Reaffirmed (For Now) in Hunley v. Instagram

Jim Rosenfeld and Raphael Holoszyc-Pimentel

The server test has been the law in the Ninth Circuit since 2007, but in recent years it has come under attack in lower courts in other jurisdictions.

Jul 2023

Arizona Law Banning Video Recording of Police Ruled Unconstitutional

Matthew E. Kelley

Ruling in favor of a coalition of news organizations, a federal judge has struck down an Arizona statute that would have made it a crime to record video of police within eight feet of them after being warned to stop.

Jul 2023

Charity’s Defamation Claim Against Canadian Public Broadcaster Can Continue in U.S. Federal Court

Sam Lachman

The Court dismissed the charity’s claims for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and negligent misrepresentation for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, leaving its defamation claim to proceed to discovery. At issue is

Jul 2023

Ohio Appellate Court Upholds Post-Trial Libel Injunction

John C. Greiner

An Ohio court recently demonstrated how a court may enjoin a party from libeling someone, without violating the Constitution.

Jul 2023

Gearing Up for MLRC’s Biggest Conference of the Year

George Freeman

A look behind the scenes of MLRC's Media Law Conference, October 4-6 at the Lansdowne Resort in Northern Virginia.

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Jul 2023

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince’s Claims Against The Intercept Dismissed for Lack of Actual Malice

Margaret N. Strouse

Judge Preska referenced the actual malice standard under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute but, because actual malice already was required of Prince as a public figure, she did not decide which source of the actual malice standard should govern.

Jul 2023

Maine Supreme Court Affirms Trial Win for Newspaper That Reported on Sex Abuse Allegations and Coverup

Cynthia Counts

The Maine Supreme Court affirmed a jury’s verdict in favor of a newspaper company and two journalists accused of defamation for reporting on decades old sex abuse allegations against a former police captain.

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