Fwd: [LUDICROUS PERNICIOUSNESS

---------- Forwarded


 

Judge Hits Blogger With $2.5 Million Charge For Not Being A Journalist
Thursday, December 08, 2011
In a case that's sending a frightening message to the blogger community, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a blogger must pay $2.5 million to an investment firm she wrote about — because she isn't a real journalist.
As reported by Seattle Weekly, Judge Marco A. Hernandez said Crystal Cox, who runs several blogs, wasn't entitled to the protections afforded to journalists — specifically, Oregon's media shield law for sources — because she wasn't "affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system."
The Obsidian Finance Group sued Cox in January for $10 million for writing several blog posts critical of the company and its co-founder, Kevin Padrick. Obsidian argued that the writing was defamatory. Cox represented herself in court.
The judge threw out all but one of the blog posts cited, focusing on just one (this one), which was more factual in tone than the rest of her writing. Cox said that was because she was being fed information from an inside source, whom she refused to name.
Without the source, she couldn't prove the information in the post was true — and thus, according to the judge, she didn't qualify for Oregon's media shield law since she wasn't employed by a media establishment. In the court's eyes, she was a blogger, not a journalist. The penalty: $2.5 million.

__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
Messages in this topic (1)
Recent Activity:

New Members 1

Visit Your Group
MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

<http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=33f94f52-22ae-11e1-96e7-57e97b233e86&T=1d1s8p781%2fX%3d1323466738%2fE%3d1705083764%2fR%3dgroups%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3dH%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d2770596384%2fH%3dY29udGVudD0iTWVtYmVyX0RpcmVjdG9yeTtHcm91cHM7MzYwO1Bob3RvcztCcmllZmNhc2U7UGVyc29uYWxzO0FsZXJ0cztBdXRvcy1DdXN0b207R2VvY2l0aWVzO01lc3NlbmdlcjsiIGRpc2FibGVzaHVmZmxpbmc9IjEiIHNlcnZlSWQ9IjMzZjk0ZjUyLTIyYWUtMTFlMS05NmU3LTU3ZTk3YjIzM2U4NiIgc2l0ZUlkPSI0NDUyNTUxIiB0U3RtcD0iMTMyMzQ2NjczODk0NTk1OCIg%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d27228962&U=13cv6sdg3%2fN%3d43BqPdBDRuo-%2fC%3d493064.14543979.14562481.13298430%2fD%3dMKP1%2fB%3d6060255%2fV%3d1>
<http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif>
Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
.
<http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=3730702/grpspId=1705083764/msgId=37434/stime=1323466738/nc1=5028928/nc2=5758220/nc3=3848583>
__,_._,___

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.