Syria Conflict Claims Lives of Two Western Journalists

Image via WikipediaSunday Times foreign correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by a mortar blast in Homs, Syria, The Washington Post reports.

The American-born Colvin, twice a recipient of the British Press Awards' Foreign Correspondent of the Year, lost an eye to a shrapnel wound in 2001 while covering a story in Sri Lanka. The Syrian government has a lockdown on information, making difficult to independently verify the circumstances of the journalists' deaths, the Post account stated.

Not including Colvin and Ochlik, eleven journalists have been killed in 2012, a half-dozen of whom were confirmed to have died in the performance of their duties, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Google's Safari Hijinks Prompts Congressmen to Seek FTC Inquiry

Image via WikipediaFederal Trade Commission Chair Jon Leibowitz last Friday received a letter from Congressmen Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) urging the agency to probe whether social media giant Google has engaged in "unlawful privacy practices" by using source code chicanery to bypass Web browser Safari's privacy settings, Jurist (www.jurist.org) reports.

Responding to a Feb. 17 article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Representatives, who serve in the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, queried the FTC concerning whether Google's actions that enabled it to track Safari users without their consent ran afoul of a 2011 settlement agreement between the FTC and Google occasioned by the social network Google Buzz's breach of privacy rights during its launch. The accord prohibits Google from misrepresenting its privacy policies to users and requires user consent before the sharing of personal information with third parties.

According to the Journal article, Google employed special computer code that deceived Safari, Apple's Web browsing software, into allowing Google to monitor Safari users, neutralizing Safari's default settings that block user tracking. The Journal article claims Google disabled the code soon after the Journal contacted the social media company for the article.

Google is set to implement its new privacy policy March 1. The company was targeted earlier this month in a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by the Electronic Privacy Information Center against the FTC (Case No. 1:2012-cv-00206). The suit, filed under the Administrative Procedure Act [5 U.S.C. sec. 706(1)] seeks injunctive relief that would compel the FTC to enforce the consent order of October 13, 2011, in In the Matter of Google, Inc. (FTC File No. 1023136).

Google is also under fire from the European Union, which this month sent a letter to Google urging it to delay implementing its new privacy policy until the EU fully investigates it.

Readers taken aback by Google's behavior in this matter are well-advised to heed comedian Bill Maher's reminder that it's no accident that within the name Google is the word ogle.

Federal Appeals Court Says NY Shield Law Protects Former WSJ Reporter

Image via WikipediaIn a 12-page decision, a three-judge panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last week ruled an ex-Wall Street Journal reporter was protected by New York's shield law from having to testify in a former client's civil suit against Goldman Sachs.

In Baker v. Goldman Sachs et al. (Case No. 11-cv-1591), the appellate court affirmed U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Barbara Jones's quashing of a subpoena of former WSJ scribe Jesse Eisinger, whom the court held was  privileged against having to testify under New York Civil Rights Law sec. 79-h.

Eisinger was targeted for a deposition based on articles he wrote for the Journal on February 16, 2000, and in August 2000, concerning Belgian software company Lernout & Hauspie. Some of the company's executives were jailed for misrepresenting the company's revenues and the entity went bankrupt. Plaintiffs James and Janet Baker, whose company, Dragon Systems, produces Dragon Dictation voice-recognition software, sued Goldman Sachs for allegedly failing to exercise due diligence regarding Lernout & Hauspie, which merged with the Bakers in a stock deal. The L&H shares became worthless after the company went belly-up.

Eisinger's articles at issue concerned a Lehman Brothers analyst who raised doubts about L&H's stock valuation and revenues and quoted sources regarding L&H's Asian earnings, respectively. Under New York's shield law, reporters have a qualified privilege against having to disclose unpublished information not obtained under a promise of confidentiality, but are absolutely privileged when news is acquired under a promise of confidentiality.

The Second Circuit panel said the Baker case involved a qualified privilege, which the plaintiffs did not overcome, the Court held, because they failed to show a critical need for the information, that the information sought was material and relevant to their lawsuit and that the information in question was unavailable from an alternative source.

The case is reported on in depth by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Website (www.rcfp.org).

UPDATE: Ecuador High Court Upholds Libel Judgment for President Correa

PRESIDENTE RAFAEL CORREA EN EL CIUDADANO TV (Photo credit: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador)A $40 million libel judgment awarded last July to Ecuador's President Rafael Correa against  the El Universo daily newspaper and its ex-opinion editor Emilio Pallacio has been upheld by a three-judge panel of  the Latin American nation's highest court, CNN reports.

The 48-year-old Correa, who has led Ecuador since 2008, sued when the defendant published an article accusing him of ordering security forces last September to open fire in a hospital filled with civilians. (See "TUOL" post 1/26/12.)

The Committee to Protect Journalists blasted the court decision in a statement issued from its New York headquarters.  Pallacio, who not only is responsible for $30 million of the judgment, but also faces a three-year jail term under the court ruling, presently is seeking asylum in Miami, according to CNN.

Burroughs Co. Sues Comic Book Publisher that Apes Tarzan

Image via WikipediaIn Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. v. Dynamic Forces Entertainment, Inc. et al., filed this week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the family-owned business that holds the copyrights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' literary icons, Tarzan and John Carter, has sued a comic book publisher and entertainment company for publishing unauthorized works based on the characters.

Defendants Dynamic Forces Entertainment and Dynamite Entertainment have yet to respond to the 33-page complaint that includes 10 counts, ranging from claims of trademark infringement [15 U.S.C. sec. 1114(1)] and unfair competition [15 U.S.C. sec. 1125(a)] to copyright infringement and deceptive trade practices. As reported by the Law Blog of The Wall Street Journal (http://blogs.wsj.com/law/), the suit initiated by ERB, Inc., a company created by the author in 1923, 27 years before his death, that is owned principally by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, alleges the defendants' Lord of the Jungle and Warlord of Mars comic book series infringe on Burroughs' Tarzan the Ape Man and John Carter of Mars. ERB is based in Tarzana, California (no, seriously).

Dynamite Entertainment, which was founded in 2005, publishes licensed franchise comic book series adaptations based on famous literary figures, including Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and Zorro. Time will tell whether the defendant this time slipped on a banana peel by purportedly "aping" the lovable vine-swinging lug who has appeared in books, comics, television series and nearly 90 films.

"Me process server, You sued."

AP Targets Aggregator Meltwater News in Copyright Infringement Suit

Image via CrunchBaseWire and wire clippers are natural foes, which explains the 41-page copyright infringement complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday by The Associated Press, the 166-year-old news agency, against 11-year-old Meltwater News, a San-Francisco-based news clipping service.

As reported by Reuters, the New York Post, the Above the Law blog and elsewhere, AP, a New York nonprofit corporation, sued Meltwater, a Delaware corporation that digitally clips news stories to enable clients to track their own press coverage, in a six-count complaint that includes claims for copyright infringement and hot news misappropriation.

AP alleges the defendant is stealing its copyrighted content and selling the information to Meltwater clients without paying AP a licensing fee.  There's no love lost here, as AP President and CEO Tom Curley released a statement branding Meltwater "a parasitic distribution service that competes directly with traditional news sources without paying license fees to cover the costs of creating those stories." The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief.

AP last July, partnered with The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more than two dozen other news organizations to launch NewsRight, a licensing service that monitors the use of copyrighted content on Internet outlets, including blogs and Websites.

No Brotherly Love for Philly Journos as Layoffs Loom

Image via WikipediaThe Philadelphia Media Network ("PMN"), owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com will resort to layoffs if a voluntary buyout program available to employees through the end of the month doesn't yield three dozen fewer workers, Poynter.org reports.

Newspaper Guild leaders received the grim news yesterday that PMN needs to slash its workforce by 37 positions that may come from across-the-board and include reporters, cartoonists, photographers, editorial writers and copy editors, among other classifications. The number of staffers who opt for the buyout will dictate how many layoffs occur, according to Poynter.org.

The respective newsrooms of the Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com will merge when they relocate, which is scheduled for June. PMN is looking to unload the media properties via auction (see "TUOL" post 1/31/12).

Criminal Libel's 'Rockie' Future in Colorado

Image via Wikipedia

Politics makes for strange bedfellows as a  Colorado Republican legislator, backed by the ACLU and the state's press association, has filed a bill to eliminate the offense of criminal libel, a class 6 felony.

The Associated Press reports that Sen. Greg Brophy, who represents the Eastern Plains, wants to repeal the 19th century law that has been applied seven times over the past two years, including against Howling Pig editor Thomas Mink (see "TUOL" posts 12/15/11, 6/6/11 & 7/22/10). Critics argue the law suppresses First Amendment freedom of speech as it subjects individuals who broadcast or publish defamatory comments about another to up to 18 months in the hoosegow and a maximum $100,000 fine for a first offense.

Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18-13-105: "A person who shall knowingly publish or disseminate, either by written instrument, sign, pictures, or the like, any statement or object tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation or expose the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, commits criminal libel."

The Colorado Press Association and the ACLU support Brophy's repeal effort, while the state's District Attorney's  Council has remained neutral, according to the AP account. Brophy is quoted in the wire service story as saying: “I think it tramples on the First Amendment rights of people to write and/or post online things that they want to post, and so I’m just seeking to strike the statute. Pretty plain and simple.”

UPDATE: Stalin's Grandson Strikes Out in Court Again

Image via WikipediaThe Russian Information Agency (http://rapsinews.com) reports that Moscow's Tverskoy District Court has thrown out a libel suit against deputies of the lower house of parliament (State Duma) brought by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, grandson of Josef Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union for 25 years with an iron fist and a bushy mustache.

Dzhugashvili is expected to appeal the ruling, which sought a refutation of claims that his infamous grandpa presided over the execution of more than 20,000 Polish Officers and civilians imprisoned in Katyn, a blintz throw from Smolensk, Russia. The Soviet Union maintained for years that the Nazis were responsible for the mass murder in 1941, but former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 turned over classified documents to the Polish government, admitting the execution of the prisoners occurred in 1940 and was carried out by the NKVD--the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the secret police who engaged in political repression during the Stalin regime.

The Russian News Agency reported that Dzhugashvili  sued the Duma for 100,000,000 rubles ($3.3 million) after the lower house of parliament declared in November 2010, the Stalin regime was to blame for the Katyn slaughter, but that lawsuit was tossed by the court, which said he failed to provide evidence to support his damages claim. The litigious grandson previously stumbled in a libel suit against the Novaya Gazeta newspaper in 2009. which had called Grandpa Jo a "bloody cannibal." (See "TUOL" posts 10/14/09 & 9/9/09).

Apparently, the air of a dictator is more powerful and successful than the heir of a dictator.

Is Speaking Ill of the Dead Protected by the 1st Amendment?

Image via WikipediaThe Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is expected to decide in the next three months whether a funeral home embalmer's First Amendment rights were violated when a Commonwealth regulatory agency revoked his license over published controversial remarks concerning corpses.

The SJC heard arguments January 6 in the case of Troy J. Schoeller v. Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers (Docket No. 10980) in which the 35-year-old Schoeller sued after the state board pulled his license in 2010 for allegedly violating 239 C.M.R. sec. 3.13(7) that bars embalmers and funeral directors from commenting on the condition of any human body entrusted to their care.

According to an Associated Press account, Schoeller, an embalmer specializing in reconstructive art who plied his trade in Florida and Massachusetts for more than 13 years, was twice interviewed for a 2006 article in the alternative weekly newspaper, The Boston Phoenix prompted by his opening a clothing store called Horror Business. During his second interview, which occurred in a restaurant, Schoeller allegedly made several offensive comments concerning his work, such as purportedly expressing distaste for embalming fat people and allegedly likening an infant's body to a "bearskin rug."

Schoeller's counsel contends his client is the first embalmer in the Commonwealth ever to be disciplined for such conduct and claims the regulation at issue is over-broad and violates Schoeller's freedom of speech. He also argues that funeral directors and embalmers discuss their work in trade journals and other publications as a matter of course because of public interest. The assistant attorneys general representing the Commonwealth, however, suggest Schoeller's conduct was unprofessional and his purported comments were insensitive.

Although he maintains he didn't say anything that was untruthful, Schoeller cedes in the AP article that he might have been more artful in his choice of words.  Perhaps it's an occupational hazard that those who spend their work day among the dead forget how to speak to the living.

Pricey Periodical Preview: The Chicagoan Hits Windy City Streets Next Week

copyright  2011 J. CrockerBorrowing its moniker from a cultural magazine published in the Second City from 1926-1935, The Chicagoan hits Chi-town  next week, the Website TimeOutChicago.com reports.

The glossy journal headed by 36-year-old Publisher/Editor-in-Chief J.C. Gabel, will debut with a 194-page issue devoid of ads and carrying a hefty $19.95 sale price. The periodical, which plans to publish twice a year, initially will be available at roughly 50 locations, mostly restaurants, salons and boutiques, the TimeOutChicago article reports.

The magazine's inaugural issue is anchored by a 47-page, 25,000-word piece about the relationship between famed Chicago film critics Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel. The book is divided into three sections: Tales from the City, A Literary Supplement and Into the Great Wide Open: Dispatches from the Midwest, and will be replete with articles, poems, short stories, essays, artwork and photographs.

Without advertising revenues, The Chicagoan will operate as a nonprofit backed by membership fees, donations and subscriptions. Members will pay annual dues of $99, according to TimeOutChicago.

A noble experiment for the culturally rich Windy City, but having formerly resided in Chicago for several years, the homesick staff of  "TUOL" believes Chi-towners won't  fork over $19.95 for a periodical, no matter how literary, unless it comes attached to a half-rack of ribs.

Moosehead Ails: Greenville (Me.) Weekly Shuts Down

Image via WikipediaAfter 36 years, the Greenville, Maine-based  weekly Moosehead Messenger, "the Voice of Moosehead Lake and the North Woods,"  has ceased publication, the Bangor Daily News ("BDN") reports.

The paper, owned by KoPenTen, LLC, and managed by Hometown Newspapers, LLC, ended its run with its February 9 issue. The paper, which had a circulation of roughly 3,000, succumbed both to the sagging economy and the owner's interest in pursuing other ventures, according to the BDN online article.

Greenville is still served by the five-year-old weekly Moosehead Matters. Messenger subscribers will receive the Highlands Journal beginning Feb. 16 to complete their subscription. The Journal plans to incorporate some Messenger features into its publication, the BDN reports.

European Court Backs Press in Two Privacy Cases

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The European Court of Human Rights' Grand Chamber ("ECHR") last week sided with the news media in two crucial invasion of privacy cases involving German television star Axel Springer and Princess Caroline of Monaco.

As chronicled by the always informative Inforrm's Blog (Inforrm.wordpress.com)  and the RPC Privacy Blog (Blog.rpc.co.uk), the ECHR found that reporting about the private lives of public figures, absent wrongdoing by the press, was in the public interest. The ECHR Grand Chamber in a 12-5 vote concerning Axel Springer v. Germany (App. No. 39954/08) found German tabloid Bild was entitled to "just satisfaction covering the damages and costs it had to pay in the domestic proceedings and in Strasbourg" for violation of its freedom of expression rights under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 10 states:

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.

2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

German courts had imposed an injunction on the publication of photos and images concerning the September 2004,  public arrest of Springer in a tent at the Munich Beer Festival for alleged cocaine use, but the ECHR said the incident was a matter of general public interest. The von Hannover case concerned efforts by Princess Caroline of Monaco to prevent publication of photos of her and her husband Prince Rainier on a ski vacation in St. Moritz in 2002.

The photo of the royals accompanied an article about Prince Rainier's declining health. The ECHR said the photos were inoffensive and not surreptitiously obtained and the article was a matter of general interest. Princess Caroline's seeking an injunction to halt publication of the photos on privacy grounds involved Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states:

 

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

That both cases involved public figures tilted the odds in the news media's favor on the Grand Chamber's balancing of freedom of expression against the reasonable expectation of privacy.

Colo. Newspaper Publisher Axing Staffers; Will Outsource & Consolidate

Image via CrunchBaseThe Denver Business Journal reports that Denver-based MediaNews Group, Inc.-owned Prairie Mountain Publishing Co. will layoff 17 staffers, as part of an outsourcing decision.

Prairie Mountain,  publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera and Longmont Times-Call, is largely dumping production and advertising design slots. Their function will be outsourced to Elgin, Ill.-based Affinity Express, which has operations in the Philippines and India, according to the  Journal article. MediaNews Group's managing company, Digital First Media, plans to increase outsourcing.

Two Prairie Mountain production employees were let go, as part of a consolidation by MediaNews Group at the Denver Post, which the entity also publishes.

Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Bill to Televise High Court Proceedings

Image via WikipediaBy an 11-7 margin, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved S. 1945 concerning televising U.S. Supreme Court proceedings, according to the Wall St. Journal law blog.

The measure would amend Chapter 45 of Title 28 of the United States Code by adding Sec. 678 Televising Supreme Court Proceedings. Broadcasting the High Court sessions would not be mandatory, as a majority of justices could vote against allowing electronic access to arguments in any given case. The proposed legislation has a cousin in the House of Representatives, H.R. 3572, the Camera in the Courtroom Act of 2011.

Judiciary Committee members favoring the presence of tv cameras to record Supreme Court arguments include Democrats Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, Charles Schumer, Herb Kohl, Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Coons, along with Republicans Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn. Giving a thumbs down to the bill was Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republicans Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Lindsay Graham, Michael Lee and Tom Coburn.

Federal Judge Will Hear Arguments on Delaware's 'Secret' Business Court

Image via WikipediaUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Mary A. McLaughlin Thursday will hear arguments concerning whether a program instituted by Delaware's Court of Chancery violates the First Amendment.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, along with Associated Press and other media entities, have submitted supporting briefs for the plaintiff in the original case brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Inc. v. The Hon. Leo E. Strine, Jr. et al (Case No. 1:11-cv-01015-MAM). At issue is a Chancery Court confidential arbitration program of which purportedly more than five companies have so far availed themselves.

The plaintiff contends businesses are using taxpayer-funded judges and a state court to litigate disputes without affording access to the public in violation of the First Amendment. Program backers claim it provides a revenue stream to Delaware and mirrors commonplace private arbitration programs. Participants shell out a $12,000 filing fee and pay $6,000 a day for the Chancery Court proceedings.

Whether the case should be tried or decided on the briefs will be on Judge McLaughlin's plate at Thursday's hearing.

Ecuador Law Curbs Press Election Coverage; Censorship Feared

Image via WikipediaUrged by President Rafael Correa to stamp out "illegitimate propaganda," the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly has enacted a law preventing news media from writing about candidates or their movements within 45 days of an election, Bloomberg News reports.

Voters will choose a president, vice president and members of the Assembly (which supplanted the National Congress in 2007) on Jan. 20, 2013, but free press advocates, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, are concerned the legislation, that encompasses positive and negative coverage of candidates, may be used to stifle journalists.

India Givers: Google & Facebook Accede to New Delhi Court Order to Censor Content

Image via WikipediaFacebook and Google pulled controversial content  from domain Websites in India in response to a warning from a New Delhi court hearing a civil case brought by an Islamic scholar who claims the material is religiously offensive.

The Reuters news service reports the social media giants Monday removed the information after the New Delhi lower court gave them 15 days in which to submit in writing to the court actions taken to block offensive content. Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasm, who operates the Website fatwaonline.org, initiated the action against Facebook and Google.

Although only roughly 10 percent of the country's population enjoys Internet use, the Indian government generally has not censored Web access. India, however, passed a law last year requiring companies to remove complained-about content from their Websites within 36 hours.

Broadcaster Tells Tweeting Staffers: 'Sky's the Limit'

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSatellite television news broadcaster Sky News' social media guidelines are not sitting well with staffers at the 24-hour network that focuses on U.K. and international news.

The Guardian reports that Sky News has admonished its journalists to avoid re-posting Tweets from competing journalists and other Twitter users who aren't part of the Sky News team. Additionally, the company's social media policy prohibits Sky News journalists from using their professional Twitter accounts to post messages about topics unrelated to their beats.

The Guardian's online edition quotes an internal Email from Sky News to staffers encouraging them to re-Tweet Sky News journalists' stories, but cautions: "Do not retweet information posted by other journalists or people on Twitter. Such information could be wrong and has not been through the Sky News editorial process."

FCC Whistles Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Offsides; Terry to Appeal WMAQ-TV Ruling

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAnti-abortion zealot and putative Democratic presidential candidate Randall Terry plans to appeal a Feb. 3 FCC ruling that spiked his effort to compel Chicago NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV to air a pro-life ad featuring images of aborted fetuses during last night's Super Bowl XLVI telecast.

According to Website accounts on Mediaite, Politico and the informative Broadcastlawblog.com., Terry's ad, which ran in several states, was rejected by the Chicago station (brings a tear to the eye of "TUOL," a former Chicago denizen). In In re Complaint of Randall Terry v. WMAQ-TV Chicago (FCC Decision No. DA 12-145), the FCC rejected Terry's argument that because he is a candidate challenging President Barack Obama for the right to head the 2012 Democratic Party presidential ticket, the NBC affiliate had to run his ad pursuant to Sections 312(a)(7) and 315 of the Communications Act.

Section 312 mandates "reasonable access" for a "legally qualified candidate" to  stations, meaning  broadcast outlets must sell ad time to a candidate, while Section 315 allows a "legally qualified candidate" equal opportunity to use broadcast facilities. In its ruling, released last Friday at 5 p.m., the FCC found Terry failed to make a substantial showing that he was a viable Democratic candidate in the state of Illinois seeking the presidency. Additionally, the agency noted that even if Terry were a "legally qualified candidate," he couldn't dictate that his ad run during the Super Bowl (which Mass.-based "TUOL" cedes was won by the NY Giants).

The Super Bowl is a one-time special program, so opposing candidates would not have had equal opportunity to have their ads run during the telecast if Terry's commercial had aired, which would have violated the Communications Act. That Terry purportedly made only two campaign appearances in Illinois and that he lacked evidence that literature boosting him had been distributed in the state bolstered the FCC decision that Terry had not campaigned in a substantial portion of the state, a prerequisite under past FCC decisions. Additionally, the Democratic National Committee fired off a letter to the agency decrying Terry and arguing he was not a "bona fide Democratic candidate." Candidates "do not have the right to air ads whenever they want," the FCC ruling noted.

Although Terry did not appear during the football game's commercial breaks, Careerbuilders did roll out another chimpanzee-in-a-suit-and-tie commercial and there were plenty of other inane, vulgar and crass ads to satisfy his followers.

Whither Jen, Brangelina & the Kardashians?

Image via WikipediaAmericans' taste can't have improved, so the sour economy must be to blame for sagging celebrity magazine newsstand sales.

Ad Week reports that the numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations' Rapid Report don't bode well for periodicals immersed in Hollywood glitz. People magazine, for instance, saw decreased newsstand sales over the second half of 2011 average out at 1.1 million copies, a 12.4 percent decline compared to second half 2010 numbers. People can take some solace in a 4.3 percent upward tick in subscriptions, for a total circulation of 3.6 million.

The news isn't much better for Bauer Publishing Co. periodicals Life & Style and In Touch, according to Rapid Report figures, as newsstand purchases plunged 7.5 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively. Celeb gossip journal Star Magazine, published by American Media, Inc., missed its rate base on more than half of  22 issues sold, while Us Weekly magazine, produced by Wenner Media, fell short on its circulation guarantee on five of 13 issues, Ad Week noted in its review of Rapid Report figures.

Looks like TMZ.com and tv talk shows are going to have to step up to inform Americans about whether Kim Kardashian is dating an NFL star and to provide bulletins on Demi Moore's rehab.

Calif. Judge Opens the Door to Juvie Court

Image via WikipediaLos Angeles County Juvenile Court Judge Michael Nash, California's longest-serving juvenile jurist, this week issued an order making dependency-related proceedings  more accessible to news media coverage, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Judge Nash's ruling applies to foster care, adoption and child abuse matters, but juvenile criminal proceedings are unaffected by the order. Transparency is likely to increase because his order shifts the burden of proof to parties to demonstrate that closure best serves the minor's interest, instead of requiring news organizations to argue why proceedings should be open to the press, according to the Times article.

Juvenile proceedings, however, will continue to be presumed closed to the general public unless an objecting member of the public can articulate a legitimate reason for attendance or are present at the behest of a minor or the juvenile's attorney.

What Would Marlin Perkins Do?

Image via WikipediaThe Sacramento Bee today issued an apology to its readers after discovering that a photographer had digitally manipulated a dramatic image taken at the Galt Winter Bird Festival.

The Bee said the published photo depicted a snowy egret attempting to snatch a frog from a great egret that captured the unlucky amphibian in its beak. Apparently, the shutterbug snapped the photo of the sly snowy egret making a play for the frog, but merged into the image a different photo of the great egret in which the frog was more evident. Duplicated images of plants in the photograph tipped off the editors.

Even in a feature photo, as compared to a hard news photo, readers should expect a faithful reproduction, unless alerted by the newspaper that the picture was altered for illustrative purposes. The photographer in question was given the bird by the paper in the form of a suspension pending an investigation.

The Bee egrets the error.

Gingrich 'Rocky' Campaign Sued by 'Eye of the Tiger' Composer

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeGOP presidential primary contender and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may consider himself a political Survivor, but the co-composer of the Rocky III theme song "Eye of the Tiger" nonetheless has brought a copyright infringement claim in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to get the Georgia history professor to stop blasting the tune at campaign events.

The five-page complaint in Rude Music Inc. v. Newt 2012 et al. (Case No. 1:12-cv-00640) seeks injunctive relief, along with damages and attorneys' fees against Gingrich's campaign, Newt 2012, as well as the American Conservative Union. Plaintiff Frank Sullivan, owner of Rude Music Inc., co-wrote the Grammy-winning "Eye of the Tiger" with Jim Peterik, and registered the copyright in 1982, according to accounts by Reuters and Associated Press wire services.

The complaint alleges Gingrich co-opted the song without the creators' permission, and has been using it since 2009 to signal his arrival at rallies and other public appearances. Gingrich's campaign has yet to respond to the suit, preferring to direct its invective at front-runner Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama and the news media.

Republican candidates have not had much luck against musicians angry over their works being used in political settings, ranging from Jackson Browne (see "TUOL" post 7/21/09), David Byrne (see "TUOL" post 5/26/10) and Don Henley (see "TUOL" post 6/3/10). If  Rep. Gingrich decides to change his tune, so to speak, the music-loving staff of "TUOL" recommends Frank Sinatra's "Love is Lovelier the Second (er...Third) Time Around," Tina Turner's "Let's Pretend We're Married," Blue October's "Hate Me" or Lisa Marie Presley's "Idiot."

Cops Sue Chicago Sun Times Over Publishing Photo LIneups

Image via WikipediaIn a seven-page complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, five police officers have sued The Chicago Sun-Times for publishing photo lineups that depicted the officers and included personal information gleaned from the Secretary of State's motor vehicle records.

The complaint, Scott Dahlstrom, Hugh Gallagly, Peter Kelly, Robert Shea & Emmet Welch v. Sun-Times Media LLC d/b/a Chicago Sun-Times (Case No. 12-cv-00658), alleges the defendant violated the Drivers Privacy Protection Act ("DPPA") [18 U.S.C. secs. 2721-2725] by including information, such as the officers' birthdates, height, weight, hair color and eye color, in a story that included photo lineups of the plaintiffs along with Richard J. Vanecko, nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who was accused of striking David Koschman on April 25,2004, according to an account in The Chicago Tribune. Koschman died from brain injuries less than two weeks later. Vanecko was not charged in his death.

Police routinely participate in "perp lineups" standing alongside suspects whom witnesses are asked to identify. The complaint claims the plaintiffs are fearful for their safety because of the defendant's publishing their photos and personal data. Section 2722(a) of the DPPA makes it "unlawful for any person knowingly to obtain or disclose personal information, from a motor vehicle record, for any use not permitted under section 2721(b)" of the Act.

The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief to remove identifying details and personal information from the defendant's publications, along with attorneys' fees, actual damages of at least $2,500 per officer as statutorily prescribed, and punitive damages. The Tribune reported that the Fraternal Order of Police last November unsuccessfully attempted in Cook County Circuit Court to prevent the Sun-Times online edition to continue publishing the five officers' personal information. That case has since been dismissed.