AP Issues Social-Networking Guidelines 06/23/2009

The Associated Press  has adopted a social-networking policy  for employees, warning them  “to make sure material posted by others doesn’t violate AP standards.”

“It’s a good idea to monitor your profile page to make sure material posted by others doesn’t violate AP standards; any such material should be deleted. Also, managers should not issue friend requests to subordinates, since that could be awkward for employees. It’s fine if employees want to initiate the friend process with their bosses,” according to the policy.

“The AP’s social-networking policy comes as the media at large begins adopting Facebook and Twitter guidelines during a time of explosive growth in online social media,” wrote David Kravets for Wired.com. “The News Media Guild, representing about 1,000 AP journalists, says the AP’s policy is perhaps the most restrictive the union has seen.”

“I am unaware of anything else like that,” News Media Guild President Tony Winton told Wired. “Parts of the policy seem to be snuffing out peoples’ First Amendment rights of expression by a company that wraps itself in the First Amendment.”

The news organization is concerned about what employees’ put on their social networking feed/pages because “we all have a stake in upholding the AP’s reputation for fairness and impartiality, which has been one of our chief assets for more than 160 years.”

“So many people were asking what our policy was, we wanted to lay out the top-level view,” Kristin Gazlay, AP’s managing editor/financial news and global training, told Editor and Publisher.

She distributed the policy to employees last week.

“It has become a huge part of how people gather information and disseminate information,” Gazlay said. ”There is no intent on being Big Brother, no plans to scour people’s pages looking for things.”

“These guidelines do not break new ground – they are consistent with the rest of our Statement of News Values and Principles. They just take into account the new realities of the social-networking world and answer questions that many AP employees have asked,” according to the policy.

Sonia Sotomayor is President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee 05/26/2009

U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor speaks after President Barack Obama announced her nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. (Reuters)

This morning, President Barack Obama named federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor  as his choice for the Supreme Court of the United States.

Added at 12 p.m. “I could not, in the few minutes I have today, mention the names of the many friends and family who have guided and supported me throughout my life, and who have been instrumental in helping me realize my dreams,” Sotomayor said after the president introduced her. “I see many of those faces in this room. Each of you, whom I love deeply, will know that my heart today is bursting with gratitude for all you have done for me.”

Before the announcement, a few news reports – as this item  from New York Magazine – indicated that the New York native was born to Puerto Rican immigrants.

“As Media Matters noted in another context, ‘the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to all residents of Puerto Rico,’” Richard Prince wrote on his online journalism column Journal-isms. “Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.” NAHJ statement warning media to avoid confusion of Sotomayor’s ethnic background and Daily Princetonian article on the judge

“Sotomayor has spoken openly about her pride in her ethnic background and has said that personal experiences ‘affect the facts that judges choose to see,’” according to an Associated Press story.

In a 2002 speech, she said, ”I simply do not know exactly what the difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor would become the third woman to serve on the nation’s highest court and the first Latina. She would replace Justice David Souter, who announced his retirement earlier this month. Statements from the Supreme Court regarding Souter’s announcement and  Sotomayor background  and  Sotomayor biography and her financial disclosure reports. Also, the following is a link to a Law School Admission Council video featuring the judge discussing her life and career.

“For as long as I can remember, I have been inspired by the achievement of our founding fathers. They set forth principles that have endured for than more two centuries. Those principles are as meaningful and relevant in each generation as the generation before,” Sotomayor said at the White House as she accepted the nomination. “It would be a profound privilege for me to play a role in applying those principles to the questions and controversies we face today.”

Added at 3 p.m. “Sotomayor’s nomination to replace Justice David H. Souter represents the possibility of the first Latino sitting on the nation’s highest court. As the debate over her qualifications develops, NAHJ would encourage the highest form of discourse,” according to a statement the journalism association released this afternoon.

Dispute Over Obama Image Raises Questions Of Fair Use 03/07/2009

“A legal dispute over a famed poster of then-senator Barack Obama goes to the heart of a very modern-era debate over what is ‘fair use’ of images that are readily available on the Internet,” wrote Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of First Amendment Center in an article posted on the Newseum Web site. “

The article explains the dispute between artist Shepard Fairey who developed an iconic image of the presidential candidate and the Associated Press, which published a photography that served as Fairey’s inspiration.

“The dispute revolves around a complex part of copyright law called ‘fair use’ and whether Fairey’s artistic work was ‘derivative’ or ‘transformative,’” Policinski wrote in the “First Amendment Challenge: Who Owns Obama’s Image?”

For information on other First Amendment issues, please visit www.firstamendmentcenter.org and the Newseum’s Cox Enterprises First Amendment Gallery.

For information about Obey Giant Art, Inc., which Fairey and his wife, Amanda own or to watch a debate on the “Colbert Nation” regarding the copyright issues surrounding the Obama poster.

Unbeweaveable: Hair Style Blocks Bullet 02/20/2009

Just read an Associated Press story about a Kansas City woman whose hair weave stopped the bullet when her ex-boyfriend fired a handgun at her. She told police the pair recently broke up. Police arrested the ex-boyfriend and another man who distracted her at a convenience store before the shooting.

To watch MyFox story  featuring the Missouri woman or KSHB-TV 41 story.