Bookstores to Host Reporters Talks on Internet Journalism

NEW YORK, NY, July 23, 2008–The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), the bookseller’s voice in the fight against censorship, announced today that it is co-sponsoring a new program that will bring reporters to bookstores around the country to discuss how the Internet is changing the practice of journalism. “The growth of the Internet is one of the greatest advances in the history of free speech, but it has also created problems for both citizen journalists and the traditional media,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “The reporter programs will give bookstores an opportunity to make themselves venues for the important discussion of what lies ahead for American journalism.”

The Internet has revolutionized journalism. Today average citizens are responsible for an increasing amount of the news by contributing to YouTube and other Web sites and popular blogs like the Huffington Post. This is a trend that has been encouraged by the traditional media. CNN hosted debates for Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates using questions submitted by viewers on YouTube. A Texas newspaper embedded a blogger with troops in Iraq. A newspaper in Florida asked readers to analyze documents online and write in with tips about a local government contracting scandal.

But the growth of citizen journalism has created new disputes over the limits of free speech. In 2006, a woman was ordered to pay over $11 million in damages because she insulted another participant on a Web site. A man who wrote posts on his personal Web site accusing a travel agency of spamming him was ordered to pay them $2.5 million in damages. Media company Viacom sued YouTube because contributors to this popular video site continue to upload television shows and movies protected by copyright.

The reporters programs will explore the changing nature of the news business. Has the Internet improved journalism or provided a new forum for disinformation? Are bloggers really journalists? Should they receive the same legal protections that have been traditionally reserved for reporters working for the newspapers, radio and television?

This is the third round of reporter programs that ABFFE has co-sponsored with the MLRC Institute, a not-for-profit educational organization focused on the media and the First Amendment. In 2006 and again this year, the reporters programs have focused on the importance of confidential sources to the business of producing newspapers, books and broadcast news. Seventeen bookstores participated during the first year, and another 16 are holding events in 2008.

ABFFE is seeking bookstores interested in hosting a reporter. Once a store volunteers, MLRC Institute contacts a media attorney in the area. The attorney then recruits a local reporter and participates in the program to help provide the legal background for the discussion. These talks are part of the MLRC Institute’s First Amendment Speakers Bureau, which was created in 2005 to educate the public about the First Amendment. Development of the Speakers Bureau has been funded by a grant from the McCormick Foundation.

Booksellers who are interested in participating should e-mail Chris Finan at chris@abffe.com or call (212) 587-4025, ext. 15.