Journalism rights & laws

Journalism Laws & Rights

Melissa Wantz & Kelly Savio

First Amendment - 1791

• Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Libel

• A published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation

Slander

• The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation (not writing, pictures, etc…). Oral defamation.

Can I be sued?

Very rarely, but it can happen, and it's important to observe professional standards if you want your work to be taken seriously.

You can't be liable for defamation if you just publish a critical opinion about someone or reveal an unpleasant truth. But if you make a false accusation of fact (even one implied in an "opinion" column), then you may have committed defamation.

Invasion of privacy occurs when a publication publicizes embarrassing personal information without consent and with no newsworthy justification, such as gossip about a teacher's marital problems. It can also happen if you mislabel a photo so that it gives a false impression that harms a person's reputation ("false light")

Tinker -- 1969

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

-Students maintain their First Amendment rights on school grounds

-Marybeth Tinker, armband

-Private schools not affected because First Amendment only protects against action by government officials.

Tinker - 1969

• Court ruled school officials can’t prevent students from expressing their opinions on school rounds, as long as:

1. Do not cause a material or substantial disruption of the school environment

2. Intrude on the rights of others

Prior Review

• Principal or other administration reads, reviews or approves the publication before publication

• Cannot be challenged legally; they have the right but put themselves at risk for legal action of published content

Prior Restraint

• Principal or administration can require changes to or removal of content before distribution (deny students right to publish content)

• Can be challenged legally

• JEA believes prior review is a form of prior restraint because it leads the reviewer to censor and to students self-censoring to assure approval

Hazelwood - 1988

• Missouri high school newspaper wanted to publish articles on divorce and teen pregnancy (1983). Pseudonyms used for quoted students

• Principal reviewed articles on night before going to print and cut the two-page spread they were on because there was not enough time to change them to protect identities better. Students found out when the paper returned from the printers.

• Three students sued.

Hazelwood - 1988

•School officials can censor student speech for “reasonable educational justification”

•Defined distinction between student expression in a “public forum” versus “non-public forum”

•Hazelwood publication found not to exist in a public forum so students were allowed a lower level of First Amendment protection

•Private schools not affected

Public Forum

• Includes extracurricular and independently produced student media

• Have greater First Amendment protections

• Not subject to Hazelwood standards

Non-public forum

• School officials exercise hands-on gatekeeping authority over editorial content

• Hazelwood created the distinction between student-initiated speech and curricular speech in settings such as a student newspaper, yearbook or school play

7 states

• Arkansas• California• Colorado• Iowa• Kansas• Kentucky• Massachusetts• OregonPassed laws guaranteeing all student publications have the right

to publish freely, so Hazelwood does not apply to them

Sunshine Laws

• Most states (including CA) have some kind of “sunshine laws”

• Their purpose is to ensure that the public has access to government records and proceedings.

• The government is “by the people, for the people, of the people,” so its proceedings should be transparent.

Credit: John Darkow, Columbia Tribune

CA Sunshine Laws

• Ralph M. Brown Act

• CA Public Records Act

Brown Act

• Applies to all CA governing bodies

• City councils, school boards, boards of supervisors, etc…

• Not applicable to private/non-profit organizations

Brown Act

• You have to give advanced notice of meetings. Even special/emergency meetings need to be announced 24 hours in advance.

• Agenda should be published before, minutes after.

• This happens every time there’s a quorum… even if it’s by accident in a grocery store.

Brown Act Exceptions

• Certain things they are allowed to discuss in “private”

• They still have to tell you they’re going to meet and give you a general idea of what they will talk/talked about in the agenda/minutes

• Litigation, personnel issues, hiring, etc

CA Public Records Act

• You can look at state and local government public records

• You may have to pay a fee, but the fee must be reasonable (cover cost of materials, etc.)

• Request during office hours and receive with in a reasonable amount of time (gray area, but about 10 days)

CAPRA

• Can’t look at personnel records (or confidential student records)…

• Or investigative records, trade secrets, litigation….

• Some drafts of documents not yet made “official”

• Material made confidential by other state or federal statutes.

CAPRA

• You CAN see police reports/ criminal history

• Licenses (liquor, teaching credentials, etc)

• Court records / transcripts

• Megan’s Law information (sex offenders)

• Public officials’ salary / benefit information

FOIA

• Enacted in 1966, and taking effect on July 5, 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. (FOIA.gov)

FOIA

• Really came into the spotlight after 9/11

• People wanted to know what the government knew, how it potentially failed us, and what it was going to do about the attacks

• The government didn’t want anyone to know what it knew, how it potentially failed us, and what it was going to do (citing “security”)

FOIA

• Some things aren’t public

• Troop movements, real matters of public security, etc

• But there are stacks and stacks of court cases regarding what’s exempt and what’s public (most dated within the last 11 years)

FOI Letter Generator

• Student Press Law Center

Censorship outside of U.S.

References

• www.scu.edu• www.firstamendmentcoalition.org• www.spj.org• www.foia.gov• http://ag.ca.gov• oag.ca.gov• http://documents.latimes.com/sunshine/• http://calaware.org/about• Protocol for Free & Responsible Student News Media• Committee to Project Journalists