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Full-Text Articles in Communications Law

Fast Forward 50 Years: Protecting Uninhibited, Robust, And Wide-Open Debate After New York Times Co. V. Sullivan, Amy Sanders Dec 2013

Fast Forward 50 Years: Protecting Uninhibited, Robust, And Wide-Open Debate After New York Times Co. V. Sullivan, Amy Sanders

Amy Kristin Sanders

Our ability to communicate instantly across geographic borders and to connect with old friends using social media has changed the way we think about community, moving us from a simple geographic analysis to a much more difficult determination. The speed with which messages travel can amplify the amount of damage to reputation by increasing the number of people who come into contact with defamatory speech. As a result, the traditional rules of defamation law must change to accommodate changes in how we communicate. The Internet has complicated the distinction between public and private figures in modern defamation law—a distinction critical …

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Concurring In Part & Concurring In The Confusion, Sonja West May 2010

Concurring In Part & Concurring In The Confusion, Sonja West

Sonja R. West

When a federal appellate court decided last year that two reporters must either reveal their confidential sources to a grand jury or face jail time, the court did not hesitate in relying on the majority opinion in the Supreme Court's sole comment on the reporter's privilege--Branzburg v. Hayes. "The Highest Court has spoken and never revisited the question. Without doubt, that is the end of the matter," Judge Sentelle wrote for the three-judge panel on the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. By this declaration, the court dismissed with a wave of its judicial hand the arguments …

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Bloggers As Limited-Purpose Public Figures: New Standards For A New Media Platform, Amy Sanders Dec 2009

Bloggers As Limited-Purpose Public Figures: New Standards For A New Media Platform, Amy Sanders

Amy Kristin Sanders

The traditional public-figure doctrine must be adapted to the new faces of online media and the ever-changing conversation outlets available to news consumers on the Internet. After reviewing the traditional tests for plaintiff status determinations in defamation cases, this article establishes a legal standard that American courts should use to determine plaintiff status in cases involving bloggers who sue for defamation. It establishes the proper level of notoriety bloggers must attain before they are considered limited-purpose public figures. Using specific examples from relevant jurisprudence involving both traditional media defamation cases and online defamation cases, this article outlines a three-part test …

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