Category Archives: front page

John Robinson, editor of The News and Record in Greensboro, N.C., tweeted a link to a video about the “consolidation” of copy desks by Media General.

This video is a beautiful, but sad tribute to copy editors and all that they do made all the sadder by the fact that many companies don’t value them at all and think merging copy desks will not mean any content changes, just money savings.

You find yourself troubled by politicians using others’ works without permission.

You may ask yourself, “What is wrong with them?”

You may tell yourself these politicians do not represent you.

“Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.”

Forgive me, Talking Heads, for my horrible parody of “Once in a Lifetime.” At least I am acknowledging it and being clear you had nothing to do with it — unlike a certain political candidate in Florida.

David Byrne, former singer of Talking Heads, is suing Florida Gov. Charlie Christ for using “Road to Nowhere” in a campaign commercial without his permission. Byrne is seeking $1 million.

Sadly, Christ is not the only one accused of stealing intellectual property. According to the Washington Post, Idaho Congressional Candidate Vaughn Ward, who has Sarah Palin’s support, is accused of plagiarizing an Obama speech.

See for yourself. The evidence is unbelievably damning.

The Media Law Case of the Week features the little guy taking on a big restaurant chain.

Jim Karagas opened My Brother’s Bar 30 years ago in Denver, according to the Denver Business Journal. Now a chain of restaurants called Brothers Bar and Grill wants to open an eatery in Denver, and it has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court asking for permission to use “Brothers” in its name. Karagas says he is worried about confusion.

Here’s hoping the little guy wins this one.

For the video version of the story, click image below.

If you are buying a term paper off the Internet, you are probably not that concerned about whether someone’s copyright has been infringed upon.

But some of the people who wrote those papers are concerned about their copyrights, and their lawsuit has led an Illinois judge to order to one of these term paper companies to prove it has permission for the papers it sells.

According to USA Today, this might “be the first time a court has penalized a seller based on how it acquires papers.”

An assistant coach’s online insults aimed at fellow coaches have lead to a $200,000 libel lawsuit.

The showdown is at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Illinois, where a football coach and his assistant claim the former defensive coordinator has libeled them with labels like “pedophile” and “thief” on Facebook, according to the State-Journal Register.

The coaches say they have been dealing with three years of online insults.

Long live online media, because the newspaper has attached a downloadable PDF of the court document for your perusal should you choose.

Let’s just hope that the only lesson students learn from this case is a positive one.

If you are reading this blog, chances are you have heard of the Innocence Project, in which a group of Medill Journalism students at Northwestern University have freed 11 wrongly convicted men and women.

Today a Chicago-area prosecutor is trying to get access to students grades and class notes. Why, you might ask? You really need to listen to this NPR story.

In short, the prosecutor is arguing that these students may be being pressured by their professor to prove innocence, even if that means bribing sources to tell the “right” stories. Ridiculous.

Are we expected to believe this prosecution has nothing to do with the embarrassment these cases might cause to the legal system? Or that the prosecutor is not trying to intimidate these students — and future students — into silence?

The professor in question, journalist David Protess, says he won’t give up the records. Good for him.

Keep fighting the good fight, Professor. With people like you, the true spirit of journalism will survive.

“I am still alive. I am one of the lucky journalists.”

That’s what Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Global Editor Maidstone Mulenga told the roughly 100 international journalists, students and teachers gathered at the United Nation of Rochester’s Freedom of the Press: A Global Crisis earlier this week held at The College at Brockport’s Metro Center.

Maidstone was a journalist in Zambia, and he and his family were threatened because of a story he had written. The government wanted to know his source. He said his story is not unique, and said that according to World Press Freedom Day, 673 journalists were arrested in 2008. Even worse, 70 journalists were killed. So far this year, 31 journalists have been killed and 30 journalists are missing worldwide, he said.

“Each time freedom of press is threatened, all other human rights are threatened,” he said.

He urged the audience to take action. He mentioned that when he visits journalists in Africa and sees them waiting in line to use the one computer available for them to follow reports, he wishes people would realize that they could help with freedom of the press by donating computers and technology or by giving a little money to support the families of imprisoned journalists, families often left destitute because the family bread-winner cannot work.

Some of the organizations that try to help international journalists and work to ensure a free press include:

• Committee to Protect Journalists
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange
• International Center for Journalists

The United Nations Association of Rochester (N.Y.) has hosted international journalists from the UN Reham Al Farra Memorial Journalists Programme for 27 years. This week’s event, which included journalists from the U.N. program, was co-sponsored by The College at Brockport Department of Communication, Nothnagle Realtors and the United Nations Department of Information.

If you would like to help Maidstone’s efforts, you can contact him mmulenga@democratandchronicle.com.

Is it who or whom?

This clip from The Office will make you laugh if you’ve ever had one of these debates (and what writer hasn’t?). Thanks to Editor Extraordinaire Deborah Gump, Ph.D., for passing this one along.