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in this issue
Letter to a Newer Media Lawyer: Don’t Just Wait By The Phone
Dear Newer Media Lawyer: Always – always – answer your phone. But never sit around waiting for it to ring. Three distinct times in my so-called adult life, answering the phone has changed the trajectory of my career. And in between calls, I’ve looked for any way I could to keep moving forward on my…
Court Unseals Facebook Records Revealing “Friendly Fraud” System Used On Minors
By D. Victoria Baranetsky A judge in the Northern District of California granted in large part a motion by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) to intervene and unseal certain documents filed in a class action lawsuit against Facebook. Bohannon, et. al v. Facebook, Inc., 12-cv-01894 (Jan. 14, 2019) (Freeman, J.). The ruling applied a…
New York’s Appeals Court Rules NYPD Body Cam Recordings Are Not “Personnel Records”
By Tom Sullivan On February 19, New York’s intermediate appellate court found that footage from police officers’ body-worn cameras was not barred from disclosure without the officers’ permission or a court order. Accordingly, the appeals court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of a petition brought by the labor union representing New York City police officers…
Court Grants Access to Warrant Materials in Michael Cohen Case
By David McCraw A federal judge in New York has granted in part an application by news organizations seeking to unseal materials related to the April 2018 FBI search of the office, home, hotel room, and electronic communications of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. U.S. v. Cohen, 18cr602 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2019). The New York…
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Exception to Grand Jury Secrecy for Records of Historical Significance
By Sean Howell Relying on a seldom-invoked exception to the secrecy of grand jury proceedings for matters of historical significance, the Eleventh Circuit has upheld a district court’s disclosure of grand jury transcripts from an investigation into what some consider to be the last mass lynching in American history. Pitch v. United States, No. 17-15016,…
Fourth Circuit Holds that Blocking on Public Official’s Social Media Page Violates First Amendment
Facebook Page Used for Official Purposes a Public Forum By Katie Fallow and Ella Solovtsova Epstein On January 7, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit became the first appellate court to address how the First Amendment applies to social media accounts operated by public officials – an issue that has become increasingly…
High School Students First Amendment Suit Can Proceed
Student Journalists Have Individual Right of Action Under Kansas Law By Eric Weslander In a case with implications for student speech and student journalism, a federal district court in Kansas recently held that three public-school students stated a potential claim that the district violated their First Amendment rights by censoring the contents of on-campus student…
Federal Aviation Administration Publishes Proposed Rules for Flights Over People, Nighttime Operations
By John W. Scott and Charles D. Tobin Nearly three years after first opening up the skies to drone journalism, the Federal Aviation Admiration has published its long-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking that would enable, under tight regulation, drone operations over people and at night. See 84 FR 3856, 3907 (published February 13, 2019). The…
Hot Topic: Roundtable Drones in Newsgathering
MLRC is pleased to introduce the “Hot Topic Roundtable,” a series in which a group of attorneys is asked to address the same set of questions on a timely subject. This month we look at drone journalism. Our respondents are Thomas Curley, Associate General Counsel at Gannett; Mickey Osterreicher, General Counsel for the National Press…
Georgia Long-Arm Statute Does Not Reach Chicago Newspaper’s Online Report
By Damon E. Dunn and Cecilia M. Suh A federal district court in Georgia dismissed claims by a Georgia resident against two Chicago newspapers over a news report concerning a police misconduct lawsuit against the plaintiff and the City of Chicago. Marsalis v. STM Reader, LLC, et al., No. 1:18-cv-01555-ELR (N.D.Ga. Jan. 10, 2019) (Ross,…
Outrage and Fraud Claims Over True Crime Series Survive Motion to Dismiss
By Josef Ghosn An Alabama federal district court recently ruled that Beth Holloway, the mother of Natalee Holloway who disappeared in Aruba in 2005, stated claims for outrage and fraud against the producers of a true crime series that claimed their show would reveal “the specifics of what happened to [Natalee] and the remains of…
Free Association and Free Speech Rights Shield Anonymous Instagram Account Publishing #MeToo Allegations
By Theresa House and Oscar Ramallo The #MeToo movement has dramatically changed how people respond to allegations of sexual misconduct. It has not yet changed our libel laws, but a new decision out of Los Angeles Superior Court indicates that people who band together to speak out against inappropriate behavior in the workplace can find…
Indiana Appellate Court Affirms Dismissal for Failure to Serve Statutory Retraction Demand
By Alison Schary On February 5, 2019, the Indiana Court of Appeals confirmed for the first time that Indiana’s retraction statute requires a pre-suit retraction demand as a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit. Hamersley v. ABC, Inc. et al., No. 18A-PL-955, 2019 WL 440972 (Table) (Ind. App. Feb. 5, 2019) Background The pro se plaintiff, Corey…
Oklahoma Gubernatorial Candidate Gets SLAPPed Down
By Robert Nelon Gary Richardson, a Tulsa, Oklahoma lawyer who often represents plaintiffs in defamation and privacy cases against the media, was himself a plaintiff in a defamation and false light case he filed against Tribune Media Company, Tribune Broadcasting Oklahoma City, LLC (KFOR), and KFOR President and General Manager Wes Milbourn. His suit, filed…
ALI Announces “Defamation and Privacy Project”
By Tom Leatherbury At its January 2019 meeting, the American Law Institute Council approved a new project to update the Restatement Second of Torts provisions concerning Defamation and Privacy. The ALI’s announcement stated: “Torts: Defamation and Privacy will address torts dealing with personal and business reputation and dignity, including defamation, business disparagement, and rights of…
Justice Thomas and Sullivan
By Lee Levine and Stephen Wermiel* Let’s not mince words—Justice Clarence Thomas’s recent broadside against New York Times v. Sullivan[1] is a tragically misguided attack on the very foundations of the freedoms of speech and of the press in the United States. On February 19, in a concurring opinion from the denial of a petition…
From the Executive Director’s Desk: Because He Threatens and Wounds the First Amendment and Our Free Press: Anybody But Trump
By George Freeman Amidst the quotidian lying of this President, his prioritizing his ego and pocketbook above all else, and his utter disregard for the rule of law and so many vaunted American institutions, it’s easy to allow one outrage or another scandal to get lost in the mix. Indeed, he is genius at distracting…
MediaLawLetter February 2019
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s Desk: Because He Threatens and Wounds the First Amendment and Our Free Press: Anybody But Trump Letter to a Newer Media Lawyer: Don’t Just Wait By The Phone 10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Rachel Matteo-Boehm LIBEL & PRIVACY Justice Thomas and Sullivan ALI Announces “Defamation and Privacy…