Baker Hostetler Media Law Partner Bruce Sanford commented on media shield laws in The New York Times’ Media Decoder Blog (“In $2.5 Million Judgment, Court Finds Blogger Is Not a Journalist”) on December 8.
Self-proclaimed investigative blogger on the law Crystal Cox was sued in January by the investment firm Obsidian Finance Group for writing several opinionated blog posts criticizing Obsidian and its co-founder Kevin Padrick. The firm sought $10 million in damages.
The judge threw out several of the firm’s claims, but ruled against her on a single post and ordered her to pay $2.5 million in damages. Cox argued that her post was based on an inside source that she refused to reveal, citing Oregon’s shield law, which allows journalists to protect sources.
U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez found last week that as a blogger, Cox was not a journalist and could not claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.
Sanford said the case highlighted the fact that many shield laws were conceived before anyone began blogging. “Media law fashioned for the traditional press of the 1960s needs a considerable amount of renovation to apply to 21st-century digital communications. The whole house isn’t a tear-down, but it’s more than a paint job — rewiring at a minimum,” he said. “Those state shield laws obviously need some updating.”