MSM side with bloggers in Apple court fight
The Associated Press (AP), The Los Angeles Times, Mercury News and others have filed a Amici Curiae (friend of the court) brief in the Court of Appeal in California for the Apple vs Bloggers case in support of the California 3.
The brief (pdf) states that the organisations interest in the case ” is in ensuring the free flow of information on matters of public importance and interest by preserving the news media’€™s ability to pursue its constitutionally protected freedom to gather and report the news, free from intrusion by the government or other litigants.”
The brief argues on the basis that journalists rights are protected under the US Constitution and the Californian laws pertaining to trade secrets are in breach of these laws.
Most importantly though in a blogging sense is that many of the leading media organisations in the US argue without question that the California 3, the 3 bloggers at the centre of the case, are journalists. Indeed the brief never goes into the question of bloggers as journalists and takes the notion that some bloggers can be and are journalists as a given.
(in parts via Threadwatch/ SiliconValleyWatcher)