Omln-copyright

SESSION ONE: Saving Journalism from Itself?

These pages are notes taken by Bill Densmore of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute while attending and participating April 9, 2010, in a one-day seminar at Harvard Law School: "Journalism's Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities." The event was organized by the Online Media Legal Network of the Berkshire Center for Internet & Society at Harvard. There are three panels; we'll build a page on each. THE CONFERENCE AGENDA HAS DETAILS ON PARTICIPANTS AND OVERVIEW TOPICS.

• BACK TO TOP OF THESE NOTES
• The hash tag for today's seminar on Twitter is: #jdt

Moderator is Christopher Bavitz, assistant director, Cyberlaw Clinic, Berkman Center
Five panelists are:

• Michael Grygiel, of Hiscock & Barclay LLP, outside counsel to GateHouse Media
• Sam Bayard, deputy director of the Online Media Legal Network at Berkman.
• R. David Hosp, of Goodwin Proctor LLP, outside counsel to The New York Times, and a published novelist
• Bruce Brown, Baker and Hoesteler, Washington, D.C., former journalist at The Washington Post before law school. Would like to see an expansion of the hot news doctrine. Otherwise there is a "systemic free riding." He thinks the Hot News doctrine can be federalized. He thinks that would be consistent with keeping the Internet a vibrant speech area. He's not online.
• Joseph Liu, Boston College Law School professor. "We should rightly worry about the viablity of the news ... but maybe we should be less worried about the viability of newspapers ... only to the extent they are necessary."

Grygiel: There are court cases that make clear the structural importance of the news media. His concern is that "if we don't have ... it is the working institutionalized press that still performs that function . . . ad hoc more off-of-the-cuff commentary is of a different order." To get that news -- training, discipline, hard work, investment of training and effort.