This should have been obvious already from
the Open Government Act of 2007,
among other laws, but now a court has reaffirmed it.
Dan Levine wrote for Reuters 17 January 2014,
Blogger gets same speech protections as traditional press: U.S. court,
A blogger is entitled to the same free speech protections as a
traditional journalist and cannot be liable for defamation unless
she acted negligently, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.
Crystal Cox lost a defamation trial in 2011 over a blog post she
wrote accusing a bankruptcy trustee and Obsidian Finance Group of
tax fraud. A lower court judge had found that Obsidian did not have
to prove that Cox acted negligently because Cox failed to submit
evidence of her status as a journalist.
But in the ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco said Cox deserved a new trial, regardless of the fact that
she is not a traditional reporter.
“As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment
distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is
unworkable,” 9th Circuit Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote for a unanimous
three-judge panel.
Here’s the actual ruling:
Obsidian Finance Group, LLC; Kevin D. Padrick v. Crystal Cox,
United States Cour tof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
17 January 2014, Continue reading →
Less than two years after
Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning assured us
It is not in a seismic-sensitive area.
