The Legal Needs of Emerging Online Media: The Online Media Legal Network after 500 Referrals

The Digital Media Law Project is pleased to announce the release of its report, The Legal Needs of Emerging Online Media: The Online Media Legal Network after 500 Referrals.

Executive Summary

Since December 2009, the DMLP has operated the Online Media Legal Network, a free attorney referral service forindependent, online journalists and journalism organizations. The OMLNhas served as a fundamental part of the legal support structure for onlinejournalism, assisting more than 260 clients with over 500 separate legalmatters.

As a result of that experience, the DMLP has been in a unique position toobserve the nature of these new journalism ventures and their legal needs.This report collects these observations, including the following:

• Those who have sought help from the OMLN overwhelmingly createtheir own original content, rather than aggregate the content ofothers. Many also provide support services to other journalists,platforms for users to talk to one another, or tools to access primarysource information.
• While some clients report on niche issues, many more are focusedon reporting news of general interest, either to the public at large orlocal audiences. Non-profit clients show a greater focus on reportingon social issues such as health and education than for-profit orindividual clients.
• OMLN clients show significant evidence of forward planning. Theyare more often proactive than reactive to legal issues, frequentlyseeking assistance with intellectual property, content liability, andcorporate questions before crises occur.
• Individual clients not employed by an organization, and those clientswho reported on businesses or to consumer audiences, sought helpdefending against legal threats more often than other clients. This indicates a particular need for greater litigation assistance among thesecategories.
• The advice sought by OMLN clients with regard to intellectualproperty matters shows a near-perfect balance between protectingtheir own content and using the content of others.

While the client survey revealed some areas of concern, it was alsoconsistent with the growth of a vibrant online news ecosystem comprised ofjournalists who, more often than not, address broad informational needsand are thinking ahead about the viability of their ventures.

You can download the report in PDF format here.