Defamation Privacy

FOIA Correcting Newsgatheri

Disinformati Prevaricatio
Falsehoods Copyright ng NoNos
on ns

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500 500 500 500 500

 FOIA Falsehoods 100

A reporter files a request for all

body camera videos taken by MPD
officers during the week of January
16-20
 FOIA Falsehoods 100

Though this would not be a federal FOIA

request, the principle is the same:

A FOIA request must reasonably

describe the records requested. It is not
in your best interest and might be a
route to denial to file requests that are
too broad
 FOIA Falsehoods 200

A reporter considers her request

denied when she doesnt receive
the records promised to her within
20 days of filing her request
 FOIA Falsehoods 200
The government must respond to the
request within twenty days but records
are unlikely to be delivered for much,
much longer
Also note: going directly to court isnt
possible (must do administrative
appeal) and there are better
alternatives to litigation anyway (OGIS)
 FOIA Falsehoods 300

A requester refuses to divulge that

he is a reporter or the reasons
behind his request
 FOIA Falsehoods 300
Technically OK but not smart:
The government can charge fees for time
spent searching for and reviewing records,
as well as the cost of making copies, with
reporters getting the first 2 for free and the
first 100 pages of copying (or the
equivalent) free
Expedited proceeding of requests may be
available in some circumstances
 FOIA Falsehoods 400

A reporter in Washington, DC files a

request with the United States
Marshals Service for the booking photo
(aka mugshot) of Charleston shooter
Dylan Roof
 FOIA Falsehoods 400
There are nine exemptions, many of which are discretionary
in nature (meaning information can still be given out by the
government), which are limited in application (meaning as
much information as possible must still be given out) and
which (via Exemption 3) leave the door open for further
restrictions
This may run afoul of two in particular:
Exemption 6 (clearly unwarranted invasions of personal
privacy)
Exemption 7 (interference with an ongoing law enforcement
investigation)
 FOIA Falsehoods 500
A reporter files a request for the
actual water quality samples
collected by the EPA from random
houses in Flint, MI or, in the
alternative, asks the agency to
produce and deliver a video
demonstrating how existing
samples were collected
 FOIA Falsehoods 500
Agencies do not have to produce (or allow you
to inspect) physical objects that are not
records
While a video is a record and an agency has
to produce a record in any form or format in
which you request it, an agency does not have
to create a record to fulfill your request nor
does it have to recreate a record in the form or
format of your choosing if it would be
unreasabonel to do so
Defamation Disinformation
100
You are writing an article about Greek
Week and decide to publish a quote by
a member of the Alpha Sigma Alpha
sorority saying theyll probably lose the
fundraising contest to the Sigma
Kappas because everyone knows how
those slutty whore Sigma Kappas are
planning to raise their money
Defamation Disinformation
100
This raises questions regarding:

The defamatory meaning of slutty

whores
Whether you can defame an entire group
Whether the statement caused damage
Whether this falls within the neutral
reportage privilege
Defamation Disinformation
200

The Washington City Paper runs an

article about Daniel Snyder (owner
of Washingtons professional
football team) with cover art
showing Snyder as a devil with a
goatee and horns
Defamation Disinformation
200
No one would reasonably believe
that the City Paper is insinuating
that Snyder the devil (and, besides,
the statement may not be materially
and substantially false) and his
allegations of Anti-Semitism dont
make this as defamatory
statement harmful to his reputation
Defamation Disinformation
300

A reporter writes a story which

states that ex-Stanford swimmer
Brock Turner was released from a
California prison after serving 3
months of a 6 month sentence for
rape
Defamation Disinformation
300
He may or may not be a public figure
but the inaccuracies of saying he went
to prison (he was in a jail) for rape
(the conviction was technically for
sexual assault) may be deemed
materially and substantially false and
defamatory and committed with actual
malice (and dont try to cover it up by
using allegedly before rape)
Defamation Disinformation
400
You have it on very good authority
(which turns out to be wrong) that
Lindsay Lohan was arrested (again) on
drug related charges. You call both the
police department and Lohans
publicist but, since you want to be first
to the story, you only wait an hour
without a response before you run the
story
Defamation Disinformation
400
While Lohan is a public figure and you
can only be successfully sued if you
publish something false about her with
actual malice (the knowledge that it is
false or with reckless disregard of truth
or falsity), one easy way to act with
actual malice is to simply refuse to get
the subjects viewpoint
Defamation Disinformation
500
In a comment to one of your stories
about the incoming first family, a reader
writes, Everyone knows that Melania
Trump worked as a highly paid escort
during her modeling days before she
came to the US.
You edit the comment to replace
Everyone knows that with In my
opinion
Defamation Disinformation
500
You arent going to be liable for
comments posted by a third party, no
matter how defamatory they are (and
prefacing a comment with in my
opinion doesnt protect a statement if it
is otherwise a statement of fact) but you
could be liable if you change those
comments to make them read
differently.
Correcting Copyright 100

You publish a photo taken by

your friend without her
permission since you know that
she hasnt registered it with
the Copyright Office anyway
Correcting Copyright 100
First: youre a terrible friend
But in a legal sense: copyright exists the
moment there is an original work of
authorship fixed in a tangible medium of
expression
Registration is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit
and, if it occurs in a timely fashion (before
publication or within a certain time afterward)
can affect the damages awarded when
infringement is proven
Correcting Copyright 200

Based on the success of Hamilton, you

decide you will write another musical
about a prominent politician:

Johnson contains both kinds of music

(country and western!) and is based on
Robert Caros Master of the Senate
biography series
Correcting Copyright 200
There are 5 exclusive rights given to a
copyright owner which are violated when a
substantially similar version of the original
work is:

Reproduced
Distributed
Displayed
Performed
Made into a Derivative Work
Correcting Copyright 300

You see a cool picture on the

Internet and paste it into your blog
because, well, once its on the
Internet its public domain
Correcting Copyright 300
Public Domain refers to whether
the copyright term has expired

While something on the Internet

may have more relaxed licensing
terms attached, you must be
aware of any conditions of use
 Correcting Copyright 400
This is an example of Fair Use because,
well, its awesome:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013
/11/19/goldieblox_commercial_rewrites_th
e_beastie_boys_urges_young_girls_to_purs
ue.html

So you should make awesome stuff too!

Correcting Copyright 400
 Correcting Copyright 500
Your journalism professor gets a tattoo of
the data visualization of the atoms most
commonly found in the human body and
reveals it to the world via a Facebook live
video lasting 9 minutes 35 seconds. The
tattoo artist, who is mentioned in the
reveal, posts a shorter version of 30
seconds (the part in which your professor
mentions his name) to his YouTube channel
and website for promotional purposes.
 Correcting Copyright 500
They both could be wrong and right:

A tattoo is a work of authorship (visual art)

under the Copyright Act and the professor
might be publicly displaying that work
without permission
For the tattoo artist, there is no hard and
fast rule regarding the amount of content
that can be used (remember its amount
AND substantiality)
Prevaricating Privacy 100

You pay a source for a video of

former professional wrestler Terry
Bolean (aka Hulk Hogan) having
sex with his friends wife, knowing
that the video was illegally
recorded
Prevaricating Privacy 100

Truthful information that has

been lawfully obtained may
always be published
Prevaricating Privacy 200

The San Francisco Chronicle is sued

by a Secret Service agent it
outed in a story asking why the
agent was never publicly thanked
by President Gerald Ford after
saving Fords life in an
assassination attempt
Prevaricating Privacy 200

The Chronicle has every right to

publish this because there is evidence
that the agent was already out in
San Francisco (just not in his
hometown in Kansas) and this is a
newsworthy fact
Prevaricating Privacy 300

Someone comes to you with a

photo of a topless Kate Middleton
sunbathing on a private beach
taken with a camera equipped with
a high resolution telephoto lens
while sitting on a yacht anchored
about a mile off the shore
Prevaricating Privacy 300

While you can generally publish

anything no matter how
embarrassing that occurs in
public, there is a question (relevant
to the newsgathering aspect of
privacy as well) as to whether this
is truly a public situation
Prevaricating Privacy 400

You are the first person to publish an

article stating that, Cora McGuirk, the
mother of former Washington Wizards
Guard/Forward Martell Webster, was
murdered by the Green River Killer
 Prevaricating Privacy 400
Unclear whether this is a problem because:

It may not be a highly offensive private

fact
It may be in a public record
It may be publicly known
Webster, as a public figure, may have
given up some privacy rights
 Prevaricating Privacy 500
You seek two kinds of records from the
University of North Carolina showing North
Carolina:
1. Containing information regarding the
fixing of parking tickets issued to student
athletes, including copies of the tickets
themselves
2. Grade records, to show that student-
athletes grades were fixed
Prevaricating Privacy 500

The grade related records are

probably unobtainable because they
are the exact type of educational
record supposed to be protected
under the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA) but you
should get the parking records since
they are not educational in nature
Newsgathering NoNos 100

You falsify chronic medical

conditions so you can get a
prescription for medical marijuana
for your story on fraud and abuse
of your states newly legal medical
marijuana industry
Newsgathering NoNos 100

The First Amendment does not

allow reporters to violate laws of
general applicability, i.e., breaking
and entering, fraud, looking at
child pornography
Newsgathering NoNos 200

You tape a telephone conversation

with a source in the State of
Maryland without the sources
knowledge and consent
Newsgathering NoNos 200

Sorry, Maryland is a Two Party

Consent State

(DC and Virginia allow One Party

Consent)
Newsgathering NoNos 300

You take a picture of a secret

service agent arresting a naked
man trying to climb the White
House fence
Newsgathering NoNos 300

Not a problem: the person is naked

Not a problem: the White House will
appear in the picture
Not a problem: an arrest is in progress

Problem would arise if you climbed the

White House fence to do it
Newsgathering NoNos 400

A law enforcement officer tries to

restrict you from taking a photo or
shooting video, but you stand your
ground, firmly and forcefully
reminding him of your First
Amendment rights
Newsgathering NoNos 400

NEVER pick a fight with a man holding

a gun
Newsgathering NoNos 500

A confidential source gives you a tape

showing a Presidential Candidate
bragging about grabbing women
without their consent which you
broadcast, feeling confident that you
will not be forced to reveal that source
thanks to the reporters privilege
Newsgathering NoNos 500
The reporters privilege exists in 49 states
and DC but not clearly at the federal level

Its application varies in many ways, including

Who is a reporter
Whether information is protected or just
sources
Whether the privilege is absolute or qualified