US District Court: Citizen Journalists Have Same Rights as News Media - Top US World News | Susanne Posel Daily Headlines and Research

US District Court: Citizen Journalists Have Same Rights as News Media - Top US World News | Susanne Posel Daily Headlines and Research:

 The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that bloggers have the same 1st Amendment rights as established journalists when involved in a defamation of character suit; as long as the issue is of public concern.

The outcome of this case establishes the fact that protections afforded the news media are not exclusive to their realm, but are also extended to citizen journalists and bloggers.

The decision was entered because of a defamation lawsuit brought in Oregon concerning a blogger who had written online that this person had “criminally mis-handled a bankruptcy case”.

In this instance, the trustee was not a public figure; however it was ruled that this case is of public concern and the negligence standard was applied.

Two years ago, Crystal Cox, an “investigative blogger” was sued by Kevin Padrick for writing online that Padrick was guilty of “fraud, corruption, money-laundering and other illegal activities.”

US District Court Judge Marco Hernandez originally denied Cox the right of journalistic protection.