Legal Issues and Concerns when Publishing a News Site

More and more people are finding and following the news on the Internet via Online News Sites.  It is a lot easier and faster to publish a news break on a News Site than through a printed version.  Publishing online, however, may have its legal issues just like normal printed publish, or even more so, because of the borderlines between the different online publishing, are still unclear.

Also, take in account, that it is not always, only a journalist, that will be publishing an event, and the source of a news event can easily be a visitor on the news site.  Even if a published event were done anonymously through a third party, the news site can be held liable for a legal mishap.

3 Web Site Legal Issues that can cause major Concerns when Publishing a News Site:

1. Copyright: There are 5 exclusive rights that copyright owners have.  You will be guilty of copyright infringements when you violate any of the following:

When obtaining images from the web to create original images from drawings, etc. you may still infringe on the copyright of the original image, even when there seem to be nothing similar.  It is best to start from scratch than using anthers’ creation.

Do not take images from third-party sources, where the original image might be protected by copyright.

Certain images can be copied but you might have to accept terms and conditions of use.

The use of Clip-art files, provided with your computer software, does not violate any copyright laws.  Even though these images are licensed you still need to be careful towards obeying the terms of these licenses.

Free Images, provided by some sights, are available for use by others.  Again, as long as the terms stipulated by the creator, are followed.

2. Domain Name: Firstly you should verify that your chosen domain name does not infringe on other trademarks.

You may contest the use of a certain domain name by someone else that registered a corporate name before you which is similar to the one you wanted to use.

3. Defamation: False Statements, which are made about someone, or an organization, that can be damaging to their reputation, is called defamation.  Publishing this statement to a third party, while knowing it is a false statement, makes it viable for defamation.

These are only a few of the complexities of law when you are publishing a news site.  The Internet is a global system with no set boundaries and therefore very difficult to regulate.

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Written by Paula Antle