--- To: declanat_private Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 10:12:50 -0400 Subject: Re: FC: Where to find Justicefiles.org court decision From: Thomas J Hillgardner <tjhillgardnerat_private> The Justicefiles.org case has a holding that is pretty fantastic for all independent media types. The Court writes: "Plaintiff's website, a vehicle of mass communication, is analytically indistinguishable [for First Amendment purposes] from a newspaper." It follows that all independent news gatherers using the internet for dissemination of news or information enjoy the same First Amendment protections as more formal members of the Fourth Estate. While some may have always assumed this to be the case, members of the general public have not historically enjoyed the same breadth of First Amendment protection in news gathering activities as newspaper and broadcast television reporters. Previously, in a case involving public access television in Massachusetts, a federal district court held that a public access television producer was a news gatherer entitled to the same heightened First Amendment protections as reporters working for traditional print and broadcast news outlets. Now a federal district court in the State of Washington makes a similar holding with respect to the proprietor of an internet website. Thus, obtaining the heightened First Amendment protections enjoyed by the traditional media is now becoming something that may be obtained by the common man on a shoestring budget. One need no longer be affiliated with a media organization to obtain these protections. Of course neither the Washington nor the Massachussetts case are of any precedential value as they are trial court decisions. But it is promising to see even this. Thomas J. Hillgardner, Esq. 82-63 170th Street Jamaica, New York 11432 (718) 657-0606 tjhillgardnerat_private ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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