“Internet radio, once on its death bed, may survive after all.” [NYTimes]
Posts Tagged ‘broadcasters’
Lawsuit claiming talk show host unfairly refused to take calls
You might think such a lawsuit, filed against radio host Marc Bernier in Bristol, Va. two years ago, would not detain the legal system for long or inflict heavy costs. But you’d be wrong about that. [Daniel Gilbert, Bristol Herald-Courier, May 19]
June 12 roundup
- Judge in Van Buren County, Michigan won’t approve adoptions unless one parent promises to stay home [Ken at Popehat]
- Critical view of proposed Performance Rights Act, under which radio would pay new fees to artists and copyright owners [Jesse Walker, Reason]
- Student threatens to sue school district: “You can say she was an exotic dancer and she was 18, but it was not an equal relationship.” [Boston Herald, columnist Margery Eagan, Worcester Telegram]
- More attention for U.S. Chamber’s movie trailers promoting awareness of lawsuit abuse [NY Times]
- Train didn’t actually strike her car at dicey RR crossing after gate closed behind her, but New York woman’s suing Metro-North anyway for the bad scare [Westchester, N.Y. Journal-News]
- Uh-oh: Defamation-and-privacy section of American Association of Law Schools keeps electing as leaders feminist lawprofs known for speech-restrictionist views [Greenfield, earlier]
- Cows and vows don’t mix: Oregon county says weddings may not be held on farm-zoned land [KTVZ]
- Paul Offit, author of noteworthy book Autism’s False Prophets, sued by anti-vaccine blogger [Confutata (scroll), Alyric, link to complaint (PDF) at Courthouse News]
Government regulation of broadcast content
Administrations of both political parties shamelessly exploited the unlamented “Fairness Doctrine” to harass their critics in the broadcast world, and there’s every reason to believe that proposed “local content” mandates would be open to the same abuse. [John Samples, “Broadcast Localism and the Lessons of the Fairness Doctrine”, Cato Institute Policy Analysis #639, May 27 (PDF)]
“Someone’s Gotta Go” and employment law
According to descriptions of a forthcoming Fox reality TV show, “actual, struggling companies with about 15 to 20 employees will let their staffs decide who gets laid off. The employee-judges will use confidential information — salaries, job evaluations — to make that final call on the show.” If that’s really the show’s format, the employers are setting themselves up for lawsuits under discrimination, retaliation, and other employment laws, not all of which can be fended off by having the employees sign waivers. [National Law Journal] More: Evil HR Lady.
Claim: access to cable Playboy Channel caused pain, anguish
Marc Randazza (Dec. 12; source link he cites is NSFW):
A Rhode Island family filed a lawsuit in Kent Superior Court claiming that Verizon Communications caused “great pain, anxiety, nervousness and mental anguish,” by providing access to the Playboy Channel. Plaintiffs Robert Bourne, Denise Roy and daughters Elice Roy and Danielle Bourne are seeking compensation for “current and future medical bills.”
Microblog 2008-11-14
- Lawyers and other professionals who blog should read new Kevin LaCroix post “On Blogging” [D&O Diary h/t @SecuritiesD] #
- Daily H.L. Mencken quotes [courtesy @ahndymac] #
- Funny, earthy blog by urban emergency room nurse [Crass-Pollination] # @danimari Odd how ERs generate so many of the best medblogs e.g. WhiteCoatRants, ER Stories, Movin’ Meat, SymTym, GruntDoc etc. #
- Calm down, conservatives, Dems aren’t planning to revive Fairness Doctrine [James Rainey, L.A. Times] # Or are we sure about that? [Ed Morrissey, Patterico]
- Advice on jury selection: “don’t continue to poke a bee hive with a stick” [Texas Country Trial Lawyer, h/t @HouCrimLaw] #
- Video humor for font geeks [College Humor, h/t @sekimori] #
- Do you blog, tweet, send saucy emails or IMs? You may not be well suited for a job in the new admin [Caron, TaxProf] #
- @rebeccawatson of possible interest regarding litigious diploma mills [this site, Oct. 27, 2003] #
- Beautiful photos of New York in the 1930s [Flickr h/t @CoolPics] #
October 24 roundup
- Chemerinsky, other critics should apologize to Second Circuit chief judge Dennis Jacobs over bogus “he doesn’t believe in pro bono!” outcry [Point of Law and update]
- New York high court skeptical of ultra-high contingency fee in Alice Lawrence v. Graubard Miller case [NYLJ; earlier here and here]
- Panel of legal journalists: press let itself be used in attack on Judge Kozinski [Above the Law]
- Unfree campaign speech, cont’d: South Dakota anti-abortion group sues to suppress opponents’ ads as “patently false and misleading” [Feral Child]
- Even if you’re tired of reading about Roy Pearson’s pants, you might still enjoy Carter Wood’s headlines on the case at ShopFloor [“Pandora’s Zipper“, “Suit Alors!“]
- Rare grant of fees in patent dispute, company had inflicted $2.5 million in cost on competitors and retailers by asserting rights over nursing mother garb [NJLJ]
- Time to be afraid? Sen. Bingaman (D-N.M.) keen on reintroducing talk-radio-squelching Fairness Doctrine [Radio Equalizer]
- “Yours, in litigious anticipation” — Frank McCourt as child in Angela’s Ashes drafted a nastygram with true literary flourish [Miriam Cherry, Concurring Opinions]
Microblog 2008-10-23
- Did the Feds err in letting Lehman fail? [Salmon vs. Carney] #
- Oh, spare us, Newt: Gingrich says some of SNL’s Palin skits “were slander and were worthy of a lawsuit” [Van Susteren] #
- Signs of much economic distress in ocean shipping trade [Naked Capitalism] #
- Seattle municipal archives, tons of cool historical photos [Flickr] #
- “Journalism is not brain surgery; it’s more difficult than that,” sez (did you guess?) a journalism professor [Happy Hospitalist] #
Lynn Woolley show
I was a guest this morning of the Texas-based radio broadcaster, discussing my recent City Journal article on supposed “criminal incitement” via campaign speech, as well as the danger of a straitjacket for broadcast opinion in the form of a revived Fairness Doctrine.