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…