ONA, OMLN partner to offer legal assistance to members
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
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If you’re building a digital journalism business, have tackled issues of copyright on your website, written up freelance contracts, or faced a libel suit, you know how important — and costly — expert legal counsel can be. Just about anyone who publishes online is likely to deal with legal issues at some point.  To help our members find free or reduced-fee legal help, the Online News Association is partnering with the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society on its new Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), beginning today.
Staffed by lawyers with extensive backgrounds in intellectual property and media law, OMLN provides independent journalists access to high-quality free or reduced-fee legal work, qualifying them for assistance, helping them identify their legal needs and matching them with participating attorneys. "As more journalists start up independent news sites, access to strong legal representation is more critical than it’s ever been,” said ONA Executive Director Jane McDonnell. OMLN’s network comprises more than 30 law firms, representing nearly 7,000 lawyers, as well as law school clinics, in-house counsel and individual lawyers across the country interested in helping online journalism ventures and other digital media creators. Services range from forming and governing a business, copyright licensing and fair use, freelancer agreements, access to government information, pre-publication review of content and representation in litigation. Individuals, non-profits and independent, for-profit journalism organizations are eligible for the free services if they meet OMLN financial criteria. Reduced-fee services may be available for those who don’t qualify for free help. (At this time the network can only assist with questions involving U.S. law, but it hopes to expand services in the future.) If you are an ONA member and would like to take advantage of this benefit, visit the Legal Resources page under Member Resources on Journalists.org. There you will find several options, including directions to download a "legal check-up” survey and to contact the OMLN staff for a one-on-one consultation about your specific needs. Not an ONA member? Join here. "Many independent online publishers lack the expertise and financial resources to protect themselves,” said David Ardia, Director of the Citizen Media Law Project. "It’s easy to imagine how one threatening letter can close down an important avenue of reporting or one lawsuit could shut down a promising journalism site. We created OMLN to make sure that doesn’t happen — and to help build a vibrant online media environment.”
OMLN is funded in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Citizen Media Law Project is jointly affiliated with Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research center funded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development, and the Center for Citizen Media, an initiative to enhance and expand grassroots media. CMLP provides assistance, training, research and other resources for individuals and organizations involved in online and citizen media.
The Online News Association is the world’s largest association of digital journalists. ONA’s mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, technologists, photographers and others who produce news for the Internet or other digital delivery systems, as well as academic members, students and others interested in the development of online journalism. For more information, contact:
Jane McDonnell
Executive Director
Online News Association
646-290-7900
director@journalists.org Kim Isbell
Staff Attorney, Online Media Legal Network
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
617-384-9120
kisbell@cyber.law.harvard.edu
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