Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Thoughts on insurance, websites, and constitutional rights (that have nothing to do with Obamacare)

Insurance jingles are terribly catchy. The other day, I was trying to explain the concept of a slogan to my nine-year-old, and the first three examples that came to mind were from insurance commercials. All together, now: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” “Nationwide is on your side,” and “We are Farmers. Bum ba dum, bum bum bum bum.”

She sang that darn Farmers riff all day long.

Needless to say, the insurance companies have our attention, and that is by design.  With the world changing as rapidly as it is, there is a whole new spectrum of assets in need of protection—SpaceShipOne, Troy Polamalu’s locks, blogs—and a whole new spectrum of risky, audacious behaviors being incentivized as a result—space tourism, tackling by hair, journalism.

Last week, the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication announced that it purchased multimedia liability insurance for all of its students.  This million-dollar policy protects against claims of libel, copyright infringement, and invasion of privacy filed against student work.

“It used to be that occasionally students would be published, but students are blogging, tweeting and everybody is a publisher,” Media Law professor Cathy Packer told The Daily Tarheel.

In journalism and communication schools all over the country, assignments that once were for professors’ eyes only are now published on class websites.  Some programs mandate an online digital portfolio as part of the capstone project or graduation requirements; most employers expect to be able to link to sample work.

“Every student who wants to work in media should put together an online portfolio,” writes Dan Reimold of Saint Joseph’s University.  Which means that every student who learns-by-doing finds herself at risk.

Last July in Durham, North Carolina, just down the road from UNC, attorney John D. Haywood filed a lawsuit against two students at St. Michael’s College in Vermont for a profile that appeared on their class website at the beginning of the year.  Haywood, one of thirteen candidates who ran against Barack Obama in the 2012 New Hampshire Democratic primary, claimed the profile was damaging and “without a doubt” cost him votes.  According to the Student Press Law Center, the case was dismissed in January 2013 under Vermont’s anti-SLAPP statute, which attempts to control the chilling effect of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. 

This type of statue protects journalists in twenty-seven states.  There is no federal anti-SLAPP law.  Insurance protects against court costs for libel and invasion of privacy suits in jurisdictions where legislature or judicial precedence do not.  “It’s becoming more important for everyone who practices journalism to be familiar with the laws,” David Ardia of UNC’s Center for Media Law and Policy told The Daily Tarheel.

Learning the core laws, ethics, and standards of the profession, writes the Knight Foundation’s Eric Newton in Searchlights and Sunglasses, “is even more important now because new technology allows everyone to act as a journalist.” For those who create digital media at home (or at school) without the protections of a parent company, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, or a personal-injury or umbrella policy, may cover content-based lawsuits, safeguarding uncompensated journalists in somewhat the same manner as UNC’s new insurance policy protects student reporters.

The pilot program at UNC will be one to watch, and hopefully faculty there will use this investment as an opportunity to educate not only journalism students but also other community members about changing laws and potential pitfalls in the tech-based reporting landscape.  Craig Newman, who chairs of the National Board of Advisors of the Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Arizona State University, has called for  this type of legal instruction in both journalism and law schools.  In an opinion piece for the Columbia Journalism Review, Newman wrote, “It is imperative that schools provide this help if the media are to remain independent watchdogs, keeping government honest and the public informed.”

There is no moral hazard here, although there is risky, audacious behavior. UNC is creating incentives for students not only to learn about journalism but also to commit acts of journalism. By insuring students, UNC helps ensure that they will have freedom—freedom, as Newton puts it, to “practice innovative real-world digital newsgathering” and “report stories that help right wrongs.”

Not to sound like a commercial, but it's good to know these student journalists are in... good hands. Bum ba dum, bum bum bum bum.


No comments:

Post a Comment