Tsarnaev’s Appeal of Boston Bombing Conviction

Good Morning Law,

Check this from today’s Globe: After four years, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s appeal of his conviction in the Boston Marathon bombing trial will start Thursday—“and the odds may be tilting his way.” The Globe says:

The focus will now be on the conduct of prosecutors, defense attorneys, the presiding judge — even the jury — with one central question at issue: Did Tsarnaev get a fair trial? … Lawyers are set to joust for two hours over legal questions such as whether the trial should have been held in Boston, and whether jurors failed to reveal their anti-Tsarnaev biases to the judge.

This is exactly what we’ve been talking about in class so read this for a real time review. And note that the story is illustrated with a sketch, not a photo, because federal courts do not allow cameras, unlike their state counterparts.

See you Tuesday!

Best,

k

 

Course Evaluations

Hiya Law,

We’ll set aside time for course evaluations tomorrow in class–after we finish discussing material and before you work on the test review.

You can access the form on your laptop or phone at this link:
http://owl.umass.edu/partners/courseEvalSurvey/uma/

See you tomorrow!

Best,

k

Student Journalists or Journalists?

Good Morning, Law!

The Northwestern Daily story is now national front-page news. This Times piece is a great summary of student journalists’ struggles to cover news professionally while being empathetic to their student sources and audiences.

But ALL journalists should be empathetic in their coverage. That doesn’t mean pulling their punches in seeking truth and reporting it. The same is true for students involved in campus media. They aren’t pretend journalists: they’re journalists.

See you in a few!

Best,

k

Great Take from Northwestern’s Journalism Dean

Hiya Law,

Please take a quick look at this statement from Northwestern’s Journalism Dean in regard to The Daily’s student editors removing names and photos of protesters from their coverage of a Jeff Sessions speech on campus. Here’s an excerpt:

Like those student journalists, I, too, have been approached by several student activists who were angered by the fact that they and their peers were depicted on the various platforms of The Daily engaged in the very public act of protesting the Sessions speech. I have explained to those activists that as Northwestern’s—and the city of Evanston’s—principal paper of record, The Daily had an obligation to capture the event, both for the benefit of its current audience as well as for posterity. I have also offered that it is naïve, not to mention wrong-headed, to declare, as many of our student activists have, that The Daily staff and other student journalists had somehow violated the personal space of the protestors by reporting on the proceedings, which were conducted in the open and were designed, ostensibly, to garner attention.

Dean Charles Whitaker says the students ideally should not have bowed to outside pressure, but fierce attacks on social media made them do exactly that.  He hopes they’ve learned the lesson that standing by their coverage would have been the better option.

See you Thursday!

Best,

k

Covering Public Protests

Hiya Law,

Northwestern’s student newspaper is involved in a controversy involving its coverage of a protest outside a speech by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions on campus. The paper, of course, ran photos of protesters, which then were shared on social media. The students who were photographed complained that they were traumatized by the exposure and afraid the administration might take action against them. This Daily editorial explains why the paper decided to take down the photos.

There is more to this story, but the right to take photos in public is central to the focus of this class. If you don’t want to be photographed, perhaps you should re-think protesting because journalists will be present, and they have every right legally to take and publish photos of others there.

See you in a few!

Best,

k

Trump’s Judicial Appointees and More!

Good Morning, Law!

President Trump yesterday celebrated with Mitch McConnell and others having appointed about 25% of all federal appeals court judges, as well as two Supreme Court justices. His appointees are on average 10 years younger than Obama appointees and far more conservative. Check today’s Times story.

At the same time, Trump himself, who had been a defendant or plaintiff in more than 4,000 court cases by the time he came into the White House, is currently being sued in multiple courts on multiple charges, including the libel suit we discussed yesterday brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll.  “I’m like a Ph.D. in litigation,” he’s said.

And finally, here is the obit of Ray Jenkins, an Alabama editor who in 1960 wrote a short story for the (Montgomery) Alabama Journal about a full-page ad criticizing Montgomery officials that had appeared that day in the New York Times. L.B. Sullivan saw Jenkins’ story in the local paper and sued the Times for libel. The rest is history.

See you this afternoon to continue our discussion of Privacy.

Best

k

COPYRIGHT: PLEASE READ!

Hiya Law,

Here is my interpretation of the Fair Use Test in relation to the Notorious B.I.G. case:

1. His use of the Ohio Players’ song is commercial purpose.
2. But he used only “a snippet” (a very small portion).
3. I doubt that his use of the snippet adversely affected the market for the OP song. (What you’re assessing here is any negative effect on the market for the copyrighted work.)
4. The use is not transformative: it’s too small a portion, and it’s not changed.

I think you could draw one of two conclusions:

1. B.I.G. is guilty of copyright infringement because of commercial purpose.
2. B.I.G. is not guilty of copyright infringement because he only used “a snippet” of the other song.

I’d go for the first, but would accept the second.

Look at this carefully. Email me and/or come to class with any questions. I’ll be there early!

Best,

k

Daniel Ellsberg!

Tonight and tomorrow! See him while you can!

Daniel Ellsberg, one of the nation’s foremost political activists and whistleblowers, will be on campus for a series of events this week. Tonight there will be a screening of the documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” followed by a panel discussion with the film’s namesake at 5:30 p.m. in Gordon Hall. Ellsberg will also speak at the Friends of the Libraries’ 21st Annual Fall Reception at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the Campus Center Auditorium.

Sacchetti’s Full Immigration Story

Hiya Everyone,

I just noticed that Maria Sacchetti’s immigration story from the Washington Post was not copied in full, so I’ve linked it here. Please make a few notes on assertions made and sources quoted.

See you Thursday for what I think will be a great discussion on journalists v. activists!

Best,

K

Libel and Access

Good Morning, Law!

Tuesday we’ll finish our discussion of Libel. The news has been filled with stories of people using the threat of libel to shut down speech. Two major online booksellers in Australia have pulled Ronan Farrow’s new book from distribution because an American Media executive has threatened a libel suit. “American Pie” Singer Don McLean has threatened to sue Maine newspapers and art centers promoting his ex-wife’s domestic violence exhibit. These threats—whether from singers or the President—are attempts to create a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression.

Thursday we’ll discuss Access. Check what’s happening in Australia in relation to “the people’s right to know”:

See you Tuesday!

Best,

k