One of the fears of local journalists starting up their own small sites is that they won’t be able to afford legal advice, should some big, bad threatening letter arrive. It’s a legit concern. The Online News Association (ONA) has teamed up with the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, which recently created the Online Media Legal Network (OMLN). In its announcement, the ONA says the network consists of 30 law firms representing 7,000 lawyers. From the release:
“Many independent online publishers lack the expertise and financial resources to protect themselves,” said David Ardia, Director of the Citizen Media Law Project. “It’s easy to imagine how one threatening letter can close down an important avenue of reporting or one lawsuit could shut down a promising journalism site. We created OMLN to make sure that doesn’t happen — and to help build a vibrant online media environment.”
Services will be either free or available at a much-reduced rate, depending on financial criteria. The service is available for ONA members only.
