firstamendmentcenter.org: Press

Home > Topics > Press > Cases & resources

Cases & resources>

Overview

Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001)
Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
Turner Broadcasting v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
Cohen v. Cowles Media Co.,501 U.S. 663 (1991)
Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990)
Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co., 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153 (1979)
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti,435 U.S. 765 (1978)
Zurcher v. Stanford Daily, 436 U.S. 547 (1978)
Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
Grosjean v. American Press, 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
Near v. Minnesota,283 U.S. 697 (1931)

Dienes, C. Thomas, Levine, Lee, and Lind, Robert, Newsgathering and the Law (2d ed. 1999), pp. 757-63)
Doppelt, Jack C. and Phillip A. Montalvo, First Amendment Handbook: Access to Courts and Documents, 2001
Farish, Leah, The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech, Religion, and the Press, Springfield, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1998
Kaplar, Richard T., Media Institute: First Amendment Advisory Council, Washington, D.C.: Media Institute, 1997
Levy, Leonard, Emergence of a Free Press (Oxford Univ. Press, 1985)
Sanford, Bruce W., Libel & Privacy (2d ed.), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall Law & Business, 1991
Van Alstyne, William W., First Amendment: Cases and Materials. Westbury, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1995
Yalof, David Alistair, The First Amendment and the Media in the Court of Public Opinion, Cambridge, Mass., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Cole, Tijani R., "The Courts and the Media Bench Book," 35 New Eng.L.Rev. 853 (2001)
Fargo, Anthony L., "The Journalist’s Privilege for Nonconfidential Information in States without Shield Laws," 7 Comp.Lab.L. & Policy J. 241 (2002)
Hafetz, Frederick P., "Gag Orders: Legal and Practical Issues Confronting the Media," 605 PLI/Pat 239 (2000)
Lambe, Jennifer L., "Dimensions of Censorship: Reconceptualizing Public Willingness to Censor," 7 Comp.Lab.L. & Policy J. 187 (2002)
Miller, Jennifer J., "Cameras in Courtrooms: The Lens of the Public Eye on our System of Justice," 13 MAR S.C. Law 25 (2002)
Nelon, Robert D., "The Peculiar Case of State v. Terry Lynn Nichols: Are Television Cameras Really Banned From Oklahoma Criminal Proceedings?," 3 Vand.J.Ent.L. & Prac. 4 (2001)
Steinfield, Joseph D., "Recent Developments in the Law of Access," 680 PLI/Pat 7 (2001)
Stewart, Potter, “‘Or of the Press,’” 26 Hastings L.J. 639 (1975)
Yuan, Loretta S., "Gag Orders and the Ultimate Sanction," 18 Loy.L.A.Ent.L.J. 629 (1998)

Radio-Television News Directors Association
Media Institute
Findlaw
Illinois First Amendment Center
American Association for Justice
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Journalist access

Supreme Court
Houchins v. KQED Inc., 438 U.S. 1 (1978)

Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)

Richmond Newspapers Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555 (1980)

Saxbe v. Washington Post Co., 417 U.S. 843 (1974)

Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817 (1974)

Other
Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. v. Periodical Correspondents’ Ass’n, 515 F.2d 1341 (U.S. App. D.C. 1975)

Connell v. Town of Hudson, 733 F.Supp. 465 (D.N.H. 1990)

Risenhoover v. England, 936 F. Supp. 392, 401 (W.D. Tex. 1995)

United States v. Webber, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11287 (E.D. Mich. 2003)

Westinghouse Broadcast.Corp. v. NTSB, 8 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1177 (D. Mass. 1982)

Shulman v. Group W Productions, Inc., 18 Cal.App.4th 200, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 843 (1998)

City of Oak Creek v. King, 436 N.W.2d 285 (Wis. 1989).

Leiserson v. City of San Diego, 184 Cal.App.3d 41 (1986)

Florida Publishing Co. v. Fletcher, 340 So. 2d 914 (Fla. 1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 930 (1977)

Sherrill v. Knight, 569 F.2d 124, 130 (D.C. Cir. 1977)

Consumers Union of U.S. v. Periodical Correspondents’ Ass’n, 365 F. Supp. 18, 27 (D.D.C. 1973), rev’d on other grounds, 515 F.2d 1341 (D.C. Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1051 (1976)

Quad-City Community News Serv. v. Jebens, 334 F. Supp. 8, 17 (S.D. Iowa 1971)

Statutes
Alaska Stat. 26.23.200(1)(2004)

Cal. Penal Code 409.5(a),(d) (2004)

Mich. Comp. Laws §750.160a (2004)

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. 2917.13(B) (2004)

Dienes, C. Thomas; Levine, Lee, and Lind, Robert C., Newsgathering and the Law 2d (Charlottesville, Va.: Matthew Bender, 1999), § 8-3

Deputy Comm’r Public Information, “In House Press,” N.Y.P.D.

Model Penal Code §242.3

Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, “Photographers’ Guide to Privacy”; also see RCFP's Hidden-Camera Statutes and RTNDA's material on hidden cameras and microphones)

Restat.2d Torts §§652A-E (1977)

Student Press Law Center, “Student Media Guide to Newsgathering”

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA statute

HIPAA is codified at 42 U.S.C. Sect. 1320d-6.

The implementing regulations can be found at 45 C.F.R. Sects. 160, 164.

Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights HIPAA page

Medical privacy vs. the public interest: A reporter's guide, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

RTNDA's Guide to Health Coverage under HIPAA

"Understanding HIPAA: A brief overview — A primer by the Freedom of Information & Advocacy Committee of the Association of Health Care Journalists"

Privacy & newsgathering

Supreme Court
Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001)
Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
Cantrell v. Forest City Pub. Co., 419 U.S. 245 (1974)
Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967)

Other
Sanders v. American Broadcasting Cos., Inc., 978 P.2d 67 (Cal. 1998)
Shulman v. Group W. Productions, 955 P.2d 469 (Cal. 1998)
Eastwood v. National Enquirer, Inc., 123 F.3d 1249 (9th Cir. 1997)
Wolfson v. Lewis, 924 F.Supp. 1413 (E.D. Pa. 1996)
Virgil v. Time, Inc., 527 F.2d 1122 (9th Cir. 1975)
Galella v. Onassis, 487 F.2d 986 (2nd Cir. 1973)
Dietemann v. Time, Inc., 449 F.2d 245 (9th Cir. 1971)
Barber v. Time, Inc., 159 S.W.2d 291 (1942)

Alderman, Ellen, and Kennedy, Caroline. The Right to Privacy. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995)
Brandeis, Louis, and Warren, Samuel D. “The Right To Privacy,” 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193 (1890)
Harper, Jim. “Understanding Privacy — and the Real Threats To It,” No. 520 Policy Analysis of the Cato Institute, 8/4/04
Perry, Steven. “Hidden Cameras, New Technology, and the Law,” Communications Lawyer (Fall 1996), pg. 1, 19-22
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “Photographers’ Guide to Privacy”
Wade, John W. “The Tort Liability of Investigative Reporters,” 37 Vand. L. Rev. 301 (1984)
Wilborn, Elizabeth S. “Revisiting the Public/Private Distinction: Employee Monitoring in the Workplace,” 32 Ga. L. Rev. 825 (1998)

Blogging

Batzel v. Smith, 351 F.3d 904 (9th Cir. 2003)

Doe v. Cahill (Del.)(10/5/05)

Donato v. Moldow, 865 A.2d 711 (N.J.Super. 2005)

In Re: Grand Jury Subpoena, 397 F.3d 964 (D.C. Cir. 2005)(discussing blogger as journalist in dicta)

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Cordtz, Dan. “Employee blogs that trash others can be actionable,” The Recorder, 7/26/05

Davis, Wendy N. “Fear of Blogging: As the Law Catches Up to Technology, Bloggers Look for a Few Good Attorneys,” 91 A.B.A. J. 16 (July 2005)

Hilden, Julie. “Can Bloggers Invoke the Journalist's Privilege to Protect Confidential Sources Who Leak Trade Secrets?” Findlaw.com, 4/26/05

Kline, Susan. “Curses, blogged again! What will you do when it happens to you?” Indiana Employment Law Letter (June 2005)

Segal, Jonathan A. “Off Duty Blogging: What’s Work Got to Do With It?” The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, (August 2005)

Criminal libel

Supreme Court
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974)
Curtis Publishing v. Butts/Associated Press v. Walker (1967)
Ashton v. Kentucky (1966)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952)

Other
I.M.L. v. Utah (2002)

Chafee, Zechariah Jr., Free Speech in the United States. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1941 (reprinted 1964, 1967, 2001).

Lisby, Gregory C., “No Place in the Law: The Ignominy of Criminal Libel in American Jurisprudence,” Communication Law & Policy, 2004

Criminal-libel statutes, state by state

Libel & defamation

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
Gertz v. Welch, 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967) (consolidated with Associated Press v. Walker)
Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990)
Rosenblatt v. Baer, 338 U.S. 75 (1966)
Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, 403 U.S. 29 (1971)
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942)

Heinke, Rex, Media Law (Edison, N.J.: BNA Books, 2000)
Knight, Al, The Life of the Law (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1996)
Levy, Leonard, Emergence of a Free Press (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985)
Nowak, John, and Rotunda, Ronald, Constitutional Law (5th ed.)
Wagman, Robert, The First Amendment Book (New York: Scripps Howard, 1991)

Prior restraint

Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U.S. 829 (1978)
New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
Near v. State of Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)

Broadcasting

Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666 (1998)
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974)

Timeline: broadcast decency

Timeline: TV, regulation and broadcast violence

Davidson, Chad, “Government Must Demonstrate That There Is Not a Less Restrictive Alternative Before a Content-Based Restriction of Protected Speech Can Survive Strict Scrutiny,” 70 Miss. L.J. 457 (2000)

Emord, Jonathan W., Freedom, Technology and the First Amendment. San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 1991

Levi, Lili, The FCC's Regulation of Indecency, a First Report from the First Amendment Center

Powe, Lucas A., American Broadcasting and the First Amendment. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987

Robinson, Glen O., “The Electronic First Amendment: An Essay for the New Age,” 47 Duke L.J. 899 (1998)

Shapiro, Stephen J., “How Internet Non-Regulation Undermines the Rationales Used to Support Broadcast Regulation,” 8 Media L. & Policy 1 (1999)

Kyu Ho Youm, “Editorial Rights of Public Broadcasting Stations vs. Access for Minor Political Candidates to Television Debates,” 52 Fed. Comm. L.J. 687 (2000)

Federal Communications Commission

Shield laws

Supreme Court
Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)

State shield statutes and leading cases

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press guide to state shield laws

"Reporters and Federal Subpoenas," special report from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

'Do Journalists Need a Better Shield?'

2004 confidential sources survey

Branzburg v. Hayes, reporters’ privilege & circuit courts

Track shield laws, subpoenas, confidentiality cases here

Ongoing confidential-sources cases

Jailed & subpoenaed journalists — a historical timeline

"Analyzing Federal Shield Law Proposals: What Congress Can Learn from the States," by Anthony L. Fargo, in Communication Law & Policy, 2006

"Libby’s legacy: The conservative case for a national shield law," by Michael Berry

Gag orders

Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030 (1991)
Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333 (1966)

Cameras in the courtroom

Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532 (1965)

Other
Radio-Television News Directors Association state-by-state guide on cameras in the courtroom

Court restrictions on news coverage, by Beth Chesterman

Courtroom access

Supreme Court
M.K.B. v. Warden, 124 S.Ct. 1405 (2004)
The Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1 (1986)
Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of California, 464 U.S. 501 (1984)
Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555 (1980)
Cox Broadcasting v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)

Other
Cowley v. Pulsifer 137 Mass. 392 (1884)

State constitutions

Supreme Court
Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242 (1986)
Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
Rosenbloom v. Metromedia,403 U.S. 29 (1971)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)

Other
Firth v. State of New York, __ N.Y.2d __, 2002 N.Y. Slip Op. 05514 (July 2, 2002)
Wampler v. Higgins, 752 N.E.2d 962, 970-972 (Ohio 2001)
State ex rel. Sports Mgmt. News, Inc. v. Nachtigal, 921 P.2d 1304 (Or. 1996)
Vail v. The Plain Dealer Publ’g Co., 649 N.E.2d 182, 188 (Ohio 1995)
West v. Thomson Newspapers, 872 P.2d 999, 1020 (Utah 1994)
Sassone v. Elder, 626 So.2d 345 (La. 1993)
Davenport v. Garcia, 834 S.W.2d 4, 18 (Tex. 1992)
Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 77 N.Y.2d at 246-248 (1990)
Immuno AG v. Moor-Jankowski, 77 N.Y.2d 235 (1991) ("Immuno II")
Immuno AG v. Moor-Jankowski, 74 N.Y.2d 548, 556 (1989) ("Immuno I")
Davidson v. Rogers, 574 P2d 624, 626 (Or. 1978)

Brennan, William J. Jr., “State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights,” 90 Harv. L. Rev. 489 (1977)
Kaye, Judith S., “Dual Constitutionalism in Practice and Principle,” 61 St. John's L. Rev. 399 (1987)
Kaye, Judith S., “State Courts at the Dawn of a New Century: Common Law Courts Reading Statutes and Constitutions,” 70 N.Y.U. L. Rev.1 (1995)
Kaye, Judith S., “The Third Branch and the Fourth Estate,” Media Studies Journal, Winter 1998, 74; “Rethinking Traditional Approaches,” 62 Alb. L. Rev. 1491 (1999)
Lewis, Anthony, Make No Law (New York: Random House, 1991)
Linde, Hans A. “E Pluribus — Constitutional Theory and State Courts,” 18 Ga. L. Rev. 165 (1984)