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Outside Poynter’s front door, etched in stone, sits the First Amendment. When it rains here, and it often rains here, one of my colleagues pulls out tiny orange cones and places them around the etching. That stone, it turns out, gets kinda slippery.
Regardless of the weather where you are, thanks to increasing hostility from the federal government toward the free press, now might be a good time to pull out some orange caution cones of your own. Those cones shouldn’t slow you or your work down, but instead remind you to pay attention to the spots where care is required when conditions aren’t good.
On Monday, Poynter hosted a webinar on safeguarding your journalism against legal threats ([link removed]) with David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at The New York Times and Victoria Baranetsky, general counsel at the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Poynter’s Angela Fu wrote this piece ([link removed]) about that conversation and their recommendations. I’ve pulled out a few takeaways.
“I actually think that the law has been and will continue to be resilient,” McCraw said on Monday. “I think where you’ll really see the pressure ground level for journalists is on access and on the protection of sources.”
And so…
* Think about what you say and what you keep:

Fu writes “an unflattering private message to a colleague, for example, could be unearthed in court — as was the case earlier this year when a jury found CNN guilty of defaming a security contractor.”
* Rethink the third-party tools and platforms you’re using:

“That includes communications platforms like Gmail and Slack, as well as transcription services like Otter,” Fu reported. “Newsrooms should understand those platforms’ document retention policies and how they would respond to a subpoena.”
* Consider what to bring, and what to leave at home, when crossing U.S. borders:

“Customs and Border Protection agents have the authority to search electronic devices, so journalists may decide to take measures like turning off their phone when crossing the border or ensuring that the laptop they carry is ‘clean.’”
* Understand fair report privilege:

“The extent of that privilege varies by state, but states that have it generally allow journalists to avoid being held liable for defamation when they report on official public documents like lawsuits,” Fu wrote. “‘Relying on documents is really useful in this administration,’ Baranetsky said. ‘It’s very hard to bring a case when you say, ‘This is what’s on the piece of paper, and I’m just reporting that.’”
* Don’t stop:

“Since 1964, the law in this country as enunciated by the Supreme Court has really been a message to journalists to take chances, to be aggressive, to hold power accountable,” McCraw said. “And if your lawyers are causing you to be scared, they are betraying that legacy.”
Here’s the full story. ([link removed])

A NOTE FROM POYNTER
[link removed]
Tampa Bay event: The Future of Facts Online
Can you trust what you read? Join Poynter in person for The Future of Facts Online: A Community Conversation at 6 p.m. May 6, as we explore how forces such as AI and the tech platforms’ rejection of fact-checking are shaping the information landscape. Hear from leading journalists working to protect facts in the digital age and learn how not to be deceived. Get tickets now. ([link removed])

While you’re here:
* Check out this new resource for college journalism educators: CollegeJournalism.org ([link removed]) . It comes from my friend and former colleague, Barbara Allen.
* The Pivot Fund reported on the news landscape in Minnesota. See what they found ([link removed]) .
* Speaking of press freedoms, Poynter’s Amaris Castillo wrote what you can do about it ([link removed]) .
* And speaking of college journalists, the Student Press Law Center put out this alert ([link removed]) about threats to student free speech.

That’s it for me. Keep making good trouble.
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])

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