Legal dilemmas in the digital newsroom

Ed Walker, online communities editor at Media Wales, has written about the challenges posed on his media law refresher course. They’re tricky scenarios, tackling copyright, contempt and defamation law.

To moderate or not to moderate? How best to use material from social network sites? How to manage a rolling crime story, especially once proceedings become active?

With all those grey areas around digital media law, I was surprised by the results of my survey of 71 small publishers (including many local news writers) this summer, which shows that over half (54%) felt happy with the legal resources available to them.

Image: Matt Hamm on Flickr.

But there was a difference of opinion between those who had encountered legal trouble in the last two years and those who hadn’t.

Of the 19 publishers who had been involved in a legal dispute, 68% felt there were not enough resources. And many of the more satisfied respondents admitted that they might feel differently if they were personally embroiled in a situation.

Maybe it’s the case that you feel safe till it happens to you…

This entry was posted in blogging, defamation, digital open justice, media law, media law resources, newspapers and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Legal dilemmas in the digital newsroom

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Legal dilemmas in the digital newsroom | media law & ethics -- Topsy.com

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