Over the months that I’ve been writing about legal issues for OJR, the consistent issue that has emerged is that online publishers need good legal representation. But that imperative has been matched by an equally vexing question: how does a small publisher get the right legal advice at an affordable price? Fortunately, there’s a host of good resources available, and some fairly clear guidelines on when legal advice is needed. Here’s what I learned from talking to the experts and scouring the Web.
Consider your legal exposure when choosing a structure for your business. Mark Anderson, an intellectual property attorney at Masur & Associates, says that, “Especially in terms of copyright infringement claims, damages can be very high, and if you’re not insulated by a corporate entity… then, your personal assets are potentially at stake. If somebody sues you for something that you wrote on your website, they’d be suing you personally, then you could lose your house; you could lose your car. But if you’ve got a business set up, that’s separate from you, it’s the business that would be sued, and the most you could lose from that is what you put into the business.”
According to Anderson, many small publishers find that a limited liability company, or LLC, provides the right combination of tax and legal advantages. Because an LLC is a corporation, its assets and liabilities are separate from those of its principals. However, some corporate structures have a disadvantage, because both the corporation and the individuals deriving income from them pay taxes. Owners of LLCs, along with S Corporations, can avoid this double taxation when their revenues are small, but they can change the way they are taxed if they start to make more money. LLCs have other additional advantages – for example, the ownership rules are more flexible.
An ethics policy or code of conduct may help protect you from libel or defamation charges. Ethics codes have their own virtues, and they don’t protect a publisher from legal action by themselves, but they can help to set the tone for an online community and clarify the publishers’ intent.
The debate over codes of conduct has become more intense because of the recent controversy surrounding threatening comments and pictures posted about prominent technology blogger Kathy Sierra. Sierra told readers that safety concerns led her to cancel speaking engagements and hide out in her home, awaiting the results of a police investigation. What followed was a vigorous, ongoing debate including efforts to create a bloggers’ code of conduct. [Full disclosure: I am a contributing editor for BlogHer one of the groups that figures prominently in both the Sierra controversy and the debate over blogging guidelines. BlogHer’s community guidelines inspired a proposed code of conduct proposed by well-known web writer Tim O’Reilly. Both codes pledge that online publishers will ban “unacceptable content” — content that might be libelous, abusive, or that might infringe on a copyright or trademark.
Anderson says it’s “tough to say” how a bloggers’ code of conduct might affect a legal proceeding. “There are certain protections under the law for journalists, and now it’s getting tougher and tougher to define who, exactly is a journalist. Potentially, adhering to one of these codes might be a factor that weighs in favor of somebody being treated as a journalist under certain laws.”
Small publishers doing journalism have to think carefully about the risks they are willing to take, especially since the legal definition of a journalist is subject to debate. Of course, freelancers and small publishers who commit acts of journalism have to understand that courts may not be willing, for example, to extend state shield laws protections to them. It’s also important to understand that federal prosecutors have broad subpoena powers when it comes to forcing the disclosure of information they deem important for a criminal investigation.
Nothing better illustrates the risks small publishers take than the case of videoblogger Josh Wolf, who was released from federal prison in early April after serving 8 months for refusing to turn over video outtakes from a July 2005 demonstration to a grand jury. Wolf claimed that, as a journalist, he was entitled to withhold the information under California’s shield law. However, the court rejected his claim because Wolf was not employed by a news organization at the time that he shot the video.
Be clear about your purpose. It’s because of Wolf and other citizen-journalists that Christine Tatum, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, thinks that the definition of a journalist should be expanded beyond those who are paid to report the news. “We want to define journalists as people who are gathering information with the purposes of distributing it,” Tatum says. “Rather than question for me being, ‘was that person a journalist?’ the question for me is, ‘was that person practicing journalism?'”
That view of journalists was part of the reason SPJ donated $31,000 to Wolf’s legal defense and helped him obtain the services of top-notch legal counsel. But Tatum acknowledges that the law has not embraced that definition, and neither do many bloggers. Noting that many bloggers say they aren’t journalists but want the legal protections afforded to journalists, she said, “I encourage people to really take a long and hard look at what is it you are, really?”
Take advantage of the growing number of educational resources and training opportunities made available by advocacy groups and professional organizations. Small business attorney Nina Kaufman notes that the Electronic Frontiers Foundation has a plethora of free resources, including legal guides for bloggers. The Media Bloggers Association is just one of several organizations that offers training in journalistic practices and legal issues. They have also taken the lead in advocating for press credentials for its members, most notably in the recent trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
The MBA’s success echoes Anderson’s argument that, “the more professionally you run your blog site, the more you act like a traditional journalist, the more you are going to be treated as a real journalist. That would include adhering to a code of ethics.”
Be smart about copyrights. Anderson quips, “For starters, don’t use anything that belongs to any one else.” Seriously, Anderson urges publishers to educate themselves about fair use guidelines, which permit the use of small portions of copyrighted material for comment, criticism, parody or educational purposes. It’s a serious matter: Anderson warns that copyright judgments come with statutory damages that can be as high as $150,000 per violation. For that reason, Anderson urges publishers to think carefully before choosing to defy a request to remove material that someone claims is infringing on a copyright or trademark.
EFF maintains that major copyright holders such as entertainment companies often make abusive use of copyright laws — combating that abuse is one of their major areas of advocacy.
But online publishers are also copyright holders, and sometimes they, too, have to take action to protect themselves. Blogger Elise Bauer warns that there are some people who use RSS feeds to aggregate others’ content without their permission, forming their own revenue-generating website. Bauer urges using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act against them, either by filing a complaint with Google for content scrapers who use its AdSense program, or by complaining directly to the DMCA office itself.
When in doubt, ask a lawyer Anderson said the published guides and training workshops are great for general knowledge, but it’s best to consult an attorney for really specific questions. And EFF spokeswoman Rebecca Jesschke says that their attorneys have found that some media lawyers are willing to consult with small publishers for a reduced fee, assuming that the matter in question isn’t too involved.
Bottom line: choosing to publish online is an enormous responsibility, and it carries risks. But a professional attitude, self-education and a few proactive steps can go a long way.
Consider liability insurance Anderson says media liability insurance can offer “peace of mind” for online publishers. One leading provider, Media/Professional/Insurance, says the right policy offers much more. M/PI is one of two companies specializing in policies tailored for cyberspace-based businesses.
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In addition: The SPJ, EFF and MBA are just a few of the professional organizations and advocacy groups that offer legal advice and support. Others include:
- American Society of Journalists and Authors: A free list of resources for authors on contracts, protecting copyrights, along with information about the Creators’ Network, a group dedicated to protecting authors’ rights.
- Online News Association: Provides legal resources for its members.
- National Writer’s Union: Has sample contracts, a system for resolving contract disputes between writers and editors, and educational resources for writers and editors.
- Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press
About Kim Pearson
Will setting up an LLC really protect your personal assets?
Let’s say you’re a single-person blogger/journalist and someone thinks you libeled them. How will an LLC keep them from suing you personally, as opposed to your assetless LLC?
I know it seems odd, but under the law, a corporation is a “person.” So if your blog is a corporate entity, it is legally separate from you, even if you are the corporation’s only shareholder. The content that is subject to litigation is the responsibility of the corporation. That’s why any losses — or profits, for that matter, accrue to the corporation, not to you personally.