MLRC BULLETIN EXAMINES 2006 MEDIA LAW DEVELOPMENTS
Rebuts "The Four Myths Surrounding The Common Law Reporter's Privilege"

For Release: January 22, 2007

Published this month, MLRC’s Bulletin 2006:3/4 contains a series of articles on the leading issues of the year in reporter’s privilege law, copyright, Internet law, media libel & privacy and related claims, and criminal libel law and practice. In each of these areas, 2006 has been a year of significant developments.

The reporter’s privilege issue continued to loom large this past year. In "Reporter’s Privilege Issues: Continuing Attacks in 2006," MLRC attorney Maherin Gangat reviews the year’s developments in reporters privilege law, from the settlement in the Wen Ho Lee case and the jailing of video blogger Josh Wolf, to the pending contempt appeal in the BALCO case.

MLRC publishes a strong counter to the resistance journalists are facing in these cases to the establishment of a common law privilege. In "The Four Myths Surrounding The Common Law Reporter’s Privilege," Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., and Michael Dore of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP argue the case for a common law reporter’s privilege and undertake to dispel legal "myths" that courts have used to block the development and momentum for such a privilege, especially in the criminal investigative context. "The case for a federal common law reporter’s privilege is compelling," they conclude. And despite recent set backs "the path remains clear to recognizing a common law privilege." Their article will be a "must read" for journalists and their advocates.

Among the most interesting issues of the year on the copyright front are the copyright infringement lawsuits over the Google Library project. In "The Google Library Project," Allan Adler of the Magazine Publishers Association discusses the cases and the challenges the project poses for authors and publishers’ copyright interests.

In "The Google Library Project: Both Sides of the Story," technology lawyer Jonathan Band offers a responsive piece discussing and defending the Google Library project and how fair use arguments might be raised to defend Google’s ambitious project to create a comprehensive book search index.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – the federal law that gives broad immunity to interactive computer service users and providers for disseminating material originating from others – continues to generate interesting case law. In "New Challenges And Familiar Themes In The Recent Case Law Considering Section 230," Samir Jain and Colin Rushing, of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, look at the latest decisions applying § 230, including a discussion of the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Barrett v. Rosenthal reaffirming the broad scope of protection under the statute.

Part II of Bulletin 2006:3/4 contains MLRC’s annual review of the significant developments of the year in media libel, privacy and related law. And Part III contains an update on recent developments in criminal libel in the United States.

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The Media Law Resource Center is a non-profit information clearinghouse organized in 1980 by leading media groups to monitor developments and promote First Amendment rights in libel, privacy and related fields. MLRC has systematically monitored trends in media libel and privacy trials and appeals since 1980, and its empirical data have been widely cited and reported in the media, in scholarly publications and in judicial opinions, playing a central role in the ongoing debate over the effect of libel claims on freedom of the press.

MLRC’s members include leading publishers and broadcasters, media and professional trade associations representing newspaper, magazine, newsletter and book publishers, broadcasters, journalists, authors, news directors and newspaper editors, and also media insurance carriers. MLRC’s law firm wing, the MLRC Defense Counsel Section, consists of over 200 member firms around the country and abroad with specialities in media and libel defense representation.

The MLRC Bulletin is available free to the press from MLRC by calling (212) 337-0200. It is available to others for $35. More information from the MLRC Report can be found at www.medialaw.org.

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For more information please contact:

Sandra S. Baron, Esq., Executive Director, Media Law Resource Center
(212) 337-0200 x 206  medialaw@medialaw.org