![Brings up interesting questions about bloggers as journalists and whether they qualify for shield law protection.
thedailywhat:
Bloggers As Journalists of the Day: Crystal Cox, a blogger who runs several sites including industrywhistleblower.com, judicialhellhole.com, and obsidianfinancesucks.com, was recently sued by the Obsidian Finance Group for several posts which they deemed defamatory.
She lost and was ordered to pay the investment firm $2.5 million after a Portland judge ruled that, being a blogger, she was not protected from disclosing her sources by the state’s media shield law.
The entire case revolved around a single post — the judge tossed out the firm’s claims against 9 others — which was, ironically, more factual than those the court dismissed.
Cox claimed that an insider provided her with the information she used to charge Obsidian with some serious misconduct. However, she refused to reveal her source, forcing the judge to make a ruling about Cox’s status as a legitimate journalist entitled to the protection of the shield law.
Unfortunately, U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez ruled that Cox was not technically a journalist, being that she is unaffiliated “with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system.”
Cries of foreboding precedence may be unwarranted, however, as it seems Cox is at least partially to blame for the judge’s decision. You see, Cox represented herself in court, which, as you know, is a big, fat no-no. The judge, it seems, may have misread Oregon’s media shield law, which clearly states:
No person connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public shall be required by … a judicial officer … to disclose, by subpoena or otherwise … [t]he source of any published or unpublished information obtained by the person in the course of gathering, receiving or processing information for any medium of communication to the public[.] (Emphasis added.)
If Cox had hired an attorney this case would likely have had a different outcome, one that might have straightened the ambiguity about bloggers in Oregon’s shield law once and for all.
However, as attorney Bruce E. H. Johnson, the man who wrote Washington’s shield law, tells Seattle Weekly, even if she were granted the protection of a shield law, Cox might still have been required to reveal her source to prove her claims.
Cox plans to appeal the ruling, but remains dead set on going it alone. Johnson recommends that Cox contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which may agree to take her case pro bono.
[seattleweekly / mashable.]](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvv3btDaP31qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Brings up interesting questions about bloggers as journalists and whether they qualify for shield law protection.
Bloggers As Journalists of the Day: Crystal Cox, a blogger who runs several sites including industrywhistleblower.com, judicialhellhole.com, and obsidianfinancesucks.com, was recently sued by the Obsidian Finance Group for several posts which they deemed defamatory.
She lost and was ordered to pay the investment firm $2.5 million after a Portland judge ruled that, being a blogger, she was not protected from disclosing her sources by the state’s media shield law.
The entire case revolved around a single post — the judge tossed out the firm’s claims against 9 others — which was, ironically, more factual than those the court dismissed.
Cox claimed that an insider provided her with the information she used to charge Obsidian with some serious misconduct. However, she refused to reveal her source, forcing the judge to make a ruling about Cox’s status as a legitimate journalist entitled to the protection of the shield law.
Unfortunately, U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez ruled that Cox was not technically a journalist, being that she is unaffiliated “with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system.”
Cries of foreboding precedence may be unwarranted, however, as it seems Cox is at least partially to blame for the judge’s decision. You see, Cox represented herself in court, which, as you know, is a big, fat no-no. The judge, it seems, may have misread Oregon’s media shield law, which clearly states:
No person connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public shall be required by … a judicial officer … to disclose, by subpoena or otherwise … [t]he source of any published or unpublished information obtained by the person in the course of gathering, receiving or processing information for any medium of communication to the public[.] (Emphasis added.)
If Cox had hired an attorney this case would likely have had a different outcome, one that might have straightened the ambiguity about bloggers in Oregon’s shield law once and for all.
However, as attorney Bruce E. H. Johnson, the man who wrote Washington’s shield law, tells Seattle Weekly, even if she were granted the protection of a shield law, Cox might still have been required to reveal her source to prove her claims.
Cox plans to appeal the ruling, but remains dead set on going it alone. Johnson recommends that Cox contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which may agree to take her case pro bono.
[seattleweekly / mashable.]
