Overlawyered » broadcasters

April 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:07:43 +0000

Fearful of adverse Supreme Court ruling, Department of Justice said to have exercised pressure on city of St. Paul to buckle in housing-disparate-impact case [Kevin Funnell]
Justice Janice Rogers Brown: we can dream, can’t we? [Weigel] The Brown/Sentelle opinion everyone’s talking about, questioning rational basis review of economic regulation [Hettinga v. U.S., milk regulations; Fisher, Kerr]
Claim: “The Bachelor” TV franchise discriminates on basis of race [Jon Hyman]
Chicago sold off municipal parking garages. Good. It also promised to disallow proposals for private parking nearby. Not good [Urbanophile]
Bad day in court for Zimmerman prosecution [Tom Maguire, more, Merritt]
“I want some systematic contacts wherever your long arm can reach” — hot-’n'-heavy CivPro music video satire [ConcurOp, language]
Federal judge dismisses charge against man who advocated jury nullification outside courthouse [Lynch, Sullum, earlier]

Tags: broadcasters, Chicago, competition through regulation, disparate impact, fair housing, jury nullification, Martin-Zimmerman case, procedure, Supreme Court

April 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Misleading audio clips and media transparency

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:31:41 +0000

In one of the standout instances of media misconduct during the run-up to the recent furor, NBC repeatedly aired, on “Today” and other shows, audio footage misleadingly edited so as to advance the proposition that George Zimmerman was suspicious of Trayvon Martin because of his race [Erik Wemple, Washington Post] While announcing that it had fired the unnamed producer it considered responsible, NBC was less than forthcoming about other details of the scandal, which — as Mickey Kaus points out — may have had a lot to do with its lawyers’ concerns about minimizing a possible defamation payout: “Like other tort laws, libel laws are in practice the enemy of transparency.”

Some have recalled the scandal in which “Dateline NBC” aired footage of supposedly exploding GM cars that in fact had been rigged with incendiary devices. But I’m actually more put in mind of a less celebrated media disgrace from the same era, the Texaco Tapes pseudo-scandal, in which (as I recount here) the New York Times and other outlets avidly promoted systematic misreadings of audiotapes in a hotly disputed racial-bias case, and failed to engage in adequate (or, really, any) soul-searching when the misreadings came to be exposed. In the Martin/Zimmerman case the questionable audio readings included the “two-shot” account influentially advanced by the New York Times when the case first broke nationally, and the supposed racial slur which dominated coverage for a couple of days before being (if the prosecutor’s affidavit is any indication) discreetly laid to rest.

More: Speaking of the New York Times, you have to wonder whether that paper has some sort of stylebook rule requiring it to keep misreporting what Stand Your Ground laws do [Jacob Sullum, more, earlier] And Tom Maguire notes that the paper’s latest editorial appear to be backing off its earlier assertions that the Zimmerman case will hinge on the state’s curtailing of the old “duty to retreat”: “The duty to retreat evidently extends to Times editors.” He also wonders whether, on the much-discussed question of whether Zimmerman flouted the advice of a 911 operator, the NYT editorialists read their own paper. Yet more: Maguire collects the media myths.

I have a new post at Cato rounding up many of my recent writings and broadcast appearances on the subject, under the title, “Why Is Press Coverage of the Martin/Zimmerman Case So Bad?”

Tags: broadcasters, libel slander and defamation, Martin-Zimmerman case, media bias, New York Times

Misleading audio clips and media transparency is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Free speech roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:11:10 +0000

Berkeley: “Police chief sends sergeant to reporter’s home after midnight to demand article revision” [Poynter] In 1932, a New York Congressman convened a hearing to blast theater critics for harming the welfare of Broadway shows [Philip Scranton, Bloomberg]
“Blasphemy and free speech” [Paul Marshall, Hillsdale "Imprimis," PDF] “Egyptian Christian Imprisoned for 6 Years for Insulting Mohammed” [Volokh]
What is it about Montana and election free speech these days? [Volokh] Judge denies Ron Paul campaign request to unmask source of anti-Huntsman video [Paul Alan Levy, earlier] “Eliot Spitzer Bucks Liberal Orthodoxy: ‘Citizens United Was Correct’” [TheDC] If you rely on the NY Times for what you know about Citizens United, you’re probably misinformed [Wendy Kaminer, Atlantic]
“In which Ben Bagdikian, alleged scourge of media monopolies, frets at the possibility of more TV channels” [BBC via Jesse Walker]
Guernsey as a haven for libel tourism? [Annie Machon] “Someday I will commission a study of the relationship between defamation lawsuit threats and illiteracy.” [@Popehat on Gawker item]
“Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice” [Mike Masnick]
Overly aggressive trademark lawyers? “Their mothers love them too, in a prone-to-sudden-weeping sort of way.” [Popehat; earlier on Louis Vuitton v. Penn Law case]

Tags: Bay Area, broadcasters, campaign regulation, Eliot Spitzer, free speech, libel slander and defamation, Montana, police, trademarks

Free speech roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

It was the dirty carpeting

Walter Olson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:05:01 +0000

A fired Florida TV anchorman claims whistleblowing retaliation [Fort Myers News-Press]

Tags: broadcasters, Florida, OSHA, whistleblowers

It was the dirty carpeting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:33:12 +0000

Correct result, yet potential for mischief in latest SCOTUS climate ruling [Ilya Shapiro/Cato, my earlier take]
Wouldn’t even want to guess: how the Howard Stern show handles sexual harassment training [Hyman]
Philadelphia: $21 million award against emergency room handling noncompliant patient [Kennerly]
Antitrust assault on Google seems geared to protect competitors more than consumers [Josh Wright]
“They knew there was a risk!” Curb your indignation please [Coyote]
Theme issue of Reason magazine on failures of criminal justice system is now online;
“Why Your New Car Doesn’t Have a Spare Tire” [Sam Kazman, WSJ]

Tags: antitrust, autos, broadcasters, climate change, crime and punishment, emergency medicine, global warming, Google, harassment law, Philadelphia, safety

July 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Suit demands CNN offer online captions for deaf”

Walter Olson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:04:41 +0000

Disabled-rights lawyers said the suit against the news network “is the first in the nation to seek equal treatment for the deaf from a commercial content provider on the Internet.” Expect many others to follow. [Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle]

Tags: broadcasters, disabled rights

“Suit demands CNN offer online captions for deaf” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:17:29 +0000

Interview with brewmaster of “Collaboration Not Litigation Ale” [Abnormal Use]
New “public trust” theory emerges in climate change litigation [Sean Wajert, Jim Huffman]
Who did the fact-checking? Questions over award to Harper’s journalist Scott Horton [Stimson, Heritage "Foundry", my '08 take]
“Nightmare scenario for higher education”: copyright case against Georgia State seeks sweeping injunction [Duke University Libraries]
“Vast wasteland” broadcast regulator: “Glenn Garvin scales and guts Newton Minow” [Miami Herald via @jackshafer]
Teacher in suburban DC still devastated by false abuse charges [WaPo, Lanny Davis, David Bernstein]
Sweetness and light: “Rising tide of litigation lifts [law] firms” [WSJ Law Blog]

Tags: beer and brewers, broadcasters, child abuse, climate change, colleges and universities, copyright

May 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Canadian cultural protectionism

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:19:45 +0000

Canada’s TV establishment may call on Ottawa to prevent escape-via-Netflix [Michael Moynihan]

Tags: broadcasters, Canada, movies film and videos

Canadian cultural protectionism is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Woman sues TV station that broadcast wrong lottery numbers

Walter Olson — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:03:24 +0000

A Fort Lee, N.J. woman says NYC television station WABC “caused her thousands of dollars in emotional damage when it broadcast the wrong lottery numbers.” [UPI, AP]

Tags: broadcasters, gambling, New Jersey

Woman sues TV station that broadcast wrong lottery numbers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:13:51 +0000

Texas Gov. Rick Perry may urge the state to take a step toward loser-pays [NJLRA]
“FCC push to regulate news draws fire” [The Hill]
Could litigation on behalf of Madoff victims get more than all their money back? [Salmon, more, NYT, Above the Law]
“Chevron Says Documents Show Ecuador Plaintiffs Worked With Government” [Dan Fisher/Forbes, more]
Organized trial lawyers expect to fare less well in next Congress, but prospects for actual liability reform remain slender [Joseph Weber/Wash. Times, Matthew Boyle/Daily Caller]
Mount Laurel rulings in New Jersey (towns given quotas to build low-income housing) described as “libertarian”, I express doubts [Hills, Prawfsblawg]
Criminal law’s revolving door: “prosecutors turn up the fire and then sell extinguishers” [Ribstein, TotM]
The wages of unconstitutionality: a Utah attorney’s curious fee niche [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: Bernard Madoff, broadcasters, Chevron, loser pays, New Jersey, prosecution, Texas, Utah

December 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system