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I want to begin with my gratitude for the vital and hard work that you all have been doing to report on the coronavirus crisis. Personally, I check five or six news websites about every hour to …
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Amanda Martin
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3/16/20
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I have fingers crossed that the many 2020 elections will bring an avalanche of ad dollars to your newspapers! With those dollars come some regulation, though. Much as I think it is …
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Amanda Martin
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2/1/20
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Have you gotten a letter from someone asking you to take down an old story because the person has gotten their record expunged? Or maybe a lawyer has written and cited G.S. § 15A-152, a …
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Amanda Martin
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1/27/20
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The 2019 'long' session of the General Assembly -- the longest session in the past century -- ended with several special sessions devoted primarily to budget issues and saw the General Assembly …
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John Bussian
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1/15/20
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Question: A newspaper received notice of an emergency meeting of a college board of trustees with attorneys. The board has a track record of going into closed session to discuss financial issues, …
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12/1/19
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Are you a reporter having trouble getting records from your local government, school board or the United Way? Are you a private citizen interested to know how you can keep track of the latest zoning …
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2/13/19
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MAKING SENSE OF WHAT
LOOKS LIKE NONSENSE
Having trouble making sense of the constitutional amendments that will appear on the ballot this November? I am, and I’m a lawyer!
As …
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Amanda Martin
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8/6/18
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FINDING COMMON GROUND
Some of you remember Governor Cooper before he was governor - even before he was attorney general - back when he was Senator Cooper. In 1995, then Sen. Cooper …
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7/17/18
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School’s out! I am fresh off teaching media law at the UNC School of Media and Journalism over the 2017-2018 academic year. I loved it and loved my students! I am happy, though, to now have time to …
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Amanda Martin
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6/18/18
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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Some of the most common questions we get when we do workshops and on the Hotline relate to the dangers of publishing information on the internet and social media and …
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Amanda Martin
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1/5/18
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Reporting on child fatalities is difficult. It presents a collision between the need for a thorough and orderly investigation against intense public concern and, sometimes, outrage. Medical records …
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12/7/17
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DEFAMATION
North Carolina’s libel law is fairly standard.
The most significant defense against libel claims for newspapers is the fair report privilege. This privilege applies to …
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Amanda Martin
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11/29/17
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We’ve been getting lots of questions about political advertising, thus this interim FFR. There are seven main things newspapers* need to know/do about political advertising.
· You cannot …
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Amanda Martin
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10/31/17
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FFR received an inquiry about the specifics of the statement in last week’s post that “The law is very narrow with regard to what personnel information is public. However, almost all personnel …
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Amanda Martin
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10/30/17
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Please see the attached guide as a reference to frequent questions on media law and reporting in North Carolina. If you still have questions contact the NCPA legal hotline (919) 833-3833 or NCPA …
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10/20/17
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COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF POLICE VIDEO
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million. Until a year ago, though, the law with regard to law enforcement videos was …
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Amanda Martin
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10/9/17
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“Personal Email” as Public Records
Gmail. Yahoo! AOL. Do these sound like official email accounts for the conduct of public business? They can be.
The NC Public Records Law …
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Amanda Martin
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8/15/17
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Dealing with non-employees and non-employee content
We all know that there is a fair amount of red tape that comes with having employees. You have to supervise and mentor them. They want to …
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8/8/17
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A PAIR OF NORTH CAROLINA sheriff’s offices, in Ashe and Union counties, have a couple things in common. Each is on the receiving end of open records requests from an investigative TV reporter …
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CJR
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8/7/17
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CAN WE TALK?
Getting Information from Sources
Who May Be Breaking the Law
If asked whether a reporter faces liability for asking a source to provide information that legally is secret, …
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Amanda Martin
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7/25/17
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