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A&A: Do trade publications have same speech protections as other journalists?

FAC September 28, 2011

Q: My company owns a website and private news source for a trade Industry. We are having concerns about our First Amendment protections. The website and news company is a business operation of our parent company. I would like to inquire about whether our direct ownership of the site conflicts with any First Amendment or journalism laws. For example, are we not protected by the same rights because the site is not an official news

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Miami food company sues Yelp for defamation

donal brown September 27, 2011

A Miami company that delivers meals has sued Yelp for defamation claiming Yelp showed negative reviews before positive ones. One legal expert thinks the company, YS Catering, does not have a strong case since the Federal Communications Decency Act exempts online service companies from defamation claims based on users’ posts. -db From MediaPost, September 26, 2011, by Wendy Davis. Full story

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Federal appeals court rejects First Amendment challenge to law prohibiting fraudulent wearing of military decorations

donal brown September 27, 2011

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal law prohibiting the unauthorized wearing of military decorations in ruling that a Nevada man had violated the law in knowingly wearing a Purple Heart he was not entitled to. The man contended in his appeal that the law prohibiting wearing of unauthorized military decorations was overbroad and would keep family members from wearing medals of fallen loved ones or the wearing of medals as artistic

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Critics balance praise with skepticism on new Obama promise for greater transparency

donal brown September 27, 2011

The Obama administration has reduced the backlog of  Freedom of Information Act requests but still faces a large number of unfulfilled requests. Under a new plan, the administration wants to improve the processing of the requests and also address other crucial issues in government openness including strengthening whistleblower protections and making more information available. Writing for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Kirsten Berg quotes John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation who likes

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Police say L.A. Times investigation of pensions could endanger lives

donal brown September 27, 2011

The Los Angeles County police union is fighting the Los Angeles Times over the newspaper’s quest for pension information that the union claims if made public could endanger the lives of retired officers. In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, the union argued that in pitting the public’s right to know against legitimate safety issues, the law must come down in favor of protecting law enforcement officers. -db From the Courthouse News Service, September 23,

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