I am the MBA's lawyer, and I have been blogging about legal issues of interest to bloggers at LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION® for a number of years. Here you can expect a less opinionated point of view, because it is the MBA's website, not mine, and a more narrow focus -- but, I hope deeper treatment -- of legal issues of concerns to bloggers.

I tried to write a brief announcement and couldn't so I wrote a press release and series of long blog posts.

Bottom line, the MBA has now fundamentally changed, everyone in the MBA has been removed from the database so they can go through the new application process which is described below. Members have to pay $25.00 a year to belong and there are now various specific benefits described in the new application process. We hope you like it, we know some folks won't, but know we put in a great deal of thought and effort on this and are firmly convinced we are on the right track with all this. That said, we welcome comments and suggestions on how we can improve what we've done and built on it.

We look forward to having you as a member of the new MBA.

MEDIA BLOGGERS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES EDUCATION, LEGAL ADVISORY AND LIABILITY INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR BLOGGERS

MBA 2.0 Launches

Blogger to get access to same sorts of training, legal support and insurance long available to traditional media organizations

We're pleased to be conducting the 1st Annual Middleberg/SNCR Global Survey of Media in the Wired World.to examine the effects of new media and communications developments, social media, and citizen journalism on journalists and the journalism profession. All journalists are invited to participate in this research study.

To help you understand how presidential election polls work and how to interpret the latest poll results, Poynter's NewsU and the American Association for Public Opinion Research have teamed up to offer a one-hour Webinar on Thursday, Sept. 18.

We at the Pulitzer Center are very excited to announce the launch of Project:Report, the video-reporting contest for aspiring journalists that we're sponsoring with YouTube and Sony/intel. This represents a tremendous commitment by YouTube to encourage quality reporting on that very popular site.

Renay San Miguel wrote in TechNewsWorld Freedom of Speech Advocates Torch China, IOC Over Web Censorship

"What is the Chinese government going to do if there is a Tommie Smith moment on the medal stand, and somebody protests Darfur or Tibet?" wondered Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association.

Insurance Journal is reporting some good news for bloggers facing legal threats - they almost always win in court!

Chris Boggs has crunched some of the MRLC data which ends on a bit of a downer:

Rebecca Reisner from Business Week did a story on the Queen of the Sky Case and interviewed Bob Cox who talked about things bloggers can do to protect themselves.

1. The Issue: A Blog, a Flight Attendant, and a Firing

The Media Bloggers Association was started in 2004 as an attempt to use the ability of blogs to shine a bright light on unwarranted legal threats and the use of litigation or the threat of litigation as a club with wish to suppress blogger's free speech rights.