Keep an even keener eye for libelous statements
Keep an even keener eye for libelous statements
par Solo'sBastardSon le Mer 2 Avr - 9:24
What I've been heartened by are the responses submitted by others participating on the comment boards. People are regulating themselves. The community is taking ownership of the comment boards, and that is what we were hoping for in the beginning."
Keep an even keener eye for libelous statements. FULL STORY http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050322glaser/
The Catch 22 for citizen journalism is that if any editing is done, then the news organization could be held accountable for any libelous statements made or any copyrighted material that was lifted from another source. But if no editing is done, the liability might go away (as it has in libel cases against Internet service providers), but the quality would plummet as well.
The CITIZEN MEDIA makes sure to have an editor look over every submission. It gets very few controversial submissions because of the family-oriented nature of the content.
"Preventing legal issues like libel is one of the reasons our editor reads all of the content submitted," THE MAN told me. "We have the same legal guidelines as any newspaper, and if we have a questionable submission, we won't run it until it has been checked. ... There will always be a bit more confidence in staff-generated content, but it's been our experience that our community contributors are good, reliable storytellers."
The CITIZEN MEDIA does require citizen journalists to register with the site first and runs a disclaimer beneath each of the stories: "The opinions and accuracy of information in this article are the responsibility of the contributor."
Ronald Coleman is an attorney and blogger with experience dealing with trademark and free speech issues online. Coleman told me that Northwest Voice's disclaimer wasn't all that useful.
"For all practical purposes, unless a company has a completely open forum, and makes no editorial choices whatsoever, it can be held responsible for the publication of defamatory or infringing material," Coleman told me via e-mail. "And the problem for newspapers is that they depend on advertisers, who will not tolerate their brand being associated with the sort of stuff that finds its way into unfiltered forums."
Keep an even keener eye for libelous statements. FULL STORY http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050322glaser/
The Catch 22 for citizen journalism is that if any editing is done, then the news organization could be held accountable for any libelous statements made or any copyrighted material that was lifted from another source. But if no editing is done, the liability might go away (as it has in libel cases against Internet service providers), but the quality would plummet as well.
The CITIZEN MEDIA makes sure to have an editor look over every submission. It gets very few controversial submissions because of the family-oriented nature of the content.
"Preventing legal issues like libel is one of the reasons our editor reads all of the content submitted," THE MAN told me. "We have the same legal guidelines as any newspaper, and if we have a questionable submission, we won't run it until it has been checked. ... There will always be a bit more confidence in staff-generated content, but it's been our experience that our community contributors are good, reliable storytellers."
The CITIZEN MEDIA does require citizen journalists to register with the site first and runs a disclaimer beneath each of the stories: "The opinions and accuracy of information in this article are the responsibility of the contributor."
Ronald Coleman is an attorney and blogger with experience dealing with trademark and free speech issues online. Coleman told me that Northwest Voice's disclaimer wasn't all that useful.
"For all practical purposes, unless a company has a completely open forum, and makes no editorial choices whatsoever, it can be held responsible for the publication of defamatory or infringing material," Coleman told me via e-mail. "And the problem for newspapers is that they depend on advertisers, who will not tolerate their brand being associated with the sort of stuff that finds its way into unfiltered forums."
