When Are Bloggers Journalists? "Simply put, new media should not be confused with news media," . Blogger Crystal Cox Disagrees, and says that New Media is the Real NEWS.

"Appeals Court Upholds Ruling That Blog Commenter Was Not A Journalist

from the too-bad dept

While lots of attention was paid to the claims that the confiscation of Gizmodo reporter Jason Chen's computer's would "settle" whether bloggers are considered journalists, the details in that case suggest otherwise. However, a much more important case on that particular question was decided late last week. It's the case of Shellee Hale, which we've covered in the past. Basically, Hale posted some information claiming a security breach at another company.

She revealed this information as a comment on another site -- and when she was sued, the company demanded she reveal where she got that information from.

She claimed that her sources were protected, as she was a journalist.

The court ruled against her, saying that because she had "no connection to any legitimate news publication," her own investigations weren't journalism.

That's troubling for a variety of reasons, especially given the wide latitude in determining what constitutes a "legitimate news publication." Hale appealed, and unfortunately, the ruling last week from the appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling:


"Simply put, new media should not be confused with news media," wrote Superior Court Appellate Judge Anthony J. Parrillo.

The court also claimed that her activities were not journalism because they "exhibited none of the recognized qualities or characteristics traditionally associated with the news process, nor has she demonstrated an established connection or affiliation with any news entity."

"However, the real battle seems to be over the attempt to determine how the woman, Shellee Hale, found out about the breach in the first place. She's refusing to give that up, claiming that she has a right to protect her sources, just like any journalist.

And while Hale writes multiple different blogs, and has written for many mainstream publications (including the Wall Street Journal and Business Week), Too Much Media claims that she doesn't deserve protections afforded to journalists because she wasn't working for any real publication and is just a blogger. The article quotes someone who says that if the court sides with Hale:
"then everyone is a journalist and the privilege becomes meaningless."

I don't see how that's actually true. In fact, I'd argue the other way. It's not that it becomes meaningless, but that it becomes very, very meaningful -- especially in an era where we're looking for new ways to prop up investigative journalism. If everyone's a journalist, and everyone has a reasonable expectation that their sources are shielded, then we're much more likely to continue to root out corruption. If this protection is somehow reserved for some "special" credentialed people, then it becomes that much harder to expose corruption.

Unfortunately, it appears that the judge in the case is almost entirely computer and internet illiterate, needing to ask for explanations for a variety of things during the court proceedings. He seemed entirely confused by the very concept of people blogging for personal interest:

"Why would a guy put all this stuff on a blog? Does he have nothing better to do?" Locasio asked. "Does he get paid?"

The judge, who apparently is about to retire in a couple months, also didn't understand the difference between blogs, message boards and forums, and was apparently unfamiliar with instant messaging. It's difficult to see why someone entirely unfamiliar with the technology should be able to judge a case like this, where understanding what's happening online is crucial to understanding what the case is really about."

Source of Post
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=shellee+hale

Shellee Hale - Too Much Media vs Hale. Too Much Media sure does not look up and up to me. Time to Investigate "Too Much Media" .. Shellee Hale, Too Much Media, John Albright, Charles Berrebbi

Shellee Hale - “The New Jersey Supreme Court decision is a final decision,”

“States are... essentially free to provide whatever protective guidelines they wish to reporters.”

Much More Coming soon on the Shellee Hale, Too Much Media, John Albright, Charles Berrebbi case and tons of indepth investigation on the real story behind Too Much Media, John Albright, and Charles Berrebbi.  We Need investigative reporting from passionate people NOT paid to tell us that story, it is the only REAL News We Have...

Links on the Shellee Hale Case

"After defendant Hale was exposed through her computer to “cyber flashers” using web cameras, she looked into how technology was used to abuse women and decided to investigate the online adult entertainment industry. Hale claims that she spoke with government officials, attended industry trade shows, interviewed people, and collected information from porn web blogs. In 2007, Hale created a website called Pornafia, which was intended to be an online news magazine and bulletin board for the public to exchange information about criminal activity within the adult entertainment industry. Pornafia was never fully launched, however. Instead, Hale posted comments on other sites’ message boards. One of the message boards, Oprano, provided an online platform for people to post unfiltered comments relating to the industry. Most of the content of Oprano was open to anyone with Internet access.

Plaintiff TMM manufactures software known as NATS, which adult entertainment websites use to keep track of access to affiliated websites and determine what commissions are due the referring sites. In late 2007, Hale’s investigation focused on reports of a security breach of the NATS database, which potentially exposed personal information of customers who believed they had signed up anonymously for pornographic websites. Hale claims she conducted a detailed probe of the breach, including talking with sources on a confidential basis. She posted multiple entries on Oprano’s message board suggesting that TMM had violated New Jersey law, had profited from the breach, and its principals had threatened people who questioned their conduct, including one of her confidential sources. "

http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/docs/20110607_153605_toomuchmedia_v_hale.pdf

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=852&doc_id=207361

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20NJCO%2020110608000T.xml

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nj/Media-a0964-09.pdf

http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/too-much-media-llc-v-hale

http://mlrcblogsuits.blogspot.com/2010/04/too-much-media-llc-v-hale-no-l2736-08.html

http://bigjournalism.com/tag/too-much-media-v-shellee-hale/

http://heartland.org/policy-documents/too-much-media-llc-v-shellee-hale-decision

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/07/us-newjersey-shield-idUSTRE7565Q520110607

http://www.silha.umn.edu/news/Summer2011/StateShieldLaws.html

Got a Tip on "Too Much Media" or John Albright, Charles Berrebbi ? eMail me, Crystal L. Cox Investigative Blogger Crystal@CrystalCox.com