FC: Thomas Hillgardner on impact of Justicefiles.org decision

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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To: declan () well com
Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 10:12:50 -0400
Subject: Re: FC: Where to find Justicefiles.org court decision
From: Thomas J Hillgardner <tjhillgardner () juno com>


The Justicefiles.org case has a holding that is pretty fantastic for all
independent media types.  The Court writes: "Plaintiff's website, a
vehicle of mass communication, is analytically indistinguishable [for
First Amendment purposes] from a newspaper."  It follows that all
independent news gatherers using the internet for dissemination of news
or information enjoy the same First Amendment protections as more formal
members of the Fourth Estate.  While some may have always assumed this to
be the case, members of the general public have not historically enjoyed
the same breadth of First Amendment protection in news gathering
activities as newspaper and broadcast television reporters.  Previously,
in a case involving public access television in Massachusetts, a federal
district court held that a public access television producer was a news
gatherer entitled to the same heightened First Amendment protections as
reporters working for traditional print and broadcast news outlets.  Now
a federal district court in the State of Washington makes a similar
holding with respect to the proprietor of an internet website.  Thus,
obtaining the heightened First Amendment protections enjoyed by the
traditional media is now becoming something that may be obtained by the
common man on a shoestring budget.  One need no longer be affiliated with
a media organization to obtain these protections.  Of course neither the
Washington nor the Massachussetts case are of any precedential value as
they are trial court decisions.  But it is promising to see even this.

Thomas J. Hillgardner, Esq.
82-63 170th Street
Jamaica, New York 11432
(718) 657-0606
tjhillgardner () juno com




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