Robert Cox in the News

First Amendment Issues

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: American Voices Series: The best test of truth(September 2006)

Beginning today, the 219th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, a series of essayists invited by the Star-Telegram will use the words of quintessentially American writings to offer their individual insight into the United States and its people.

We posed this challenge to writers from many backgrounds, from various regions of the country:

If you could translate a piece of writing that represents an essential American value — and have that translation widely distributed to people in nations that might have a skewed view of the United States — what would it be? What one document or literary work would best articulate the character, values and spirit of the American people?

Radio Television News Director Association, Panel on Citizen Journalism: Technology Boosts Power of Citizen Journalism (April 2006)

Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, gave a personal example of how the “blogosphere” worked, citing his recent lawsuit involving the New York Times, and how other bloggers around the country, other traditional news sources and talk radio picked up on the dispute. Cox said there are some two dozen suits against bloggers across the country, which he described as “slapp suits, designed to squelch criticism of politicians and media.”

National Archives Citizen Media Panel on Constitution Day (September 2005)

In honor of Constitution Day, the Newseum and the National Archives will present a program examining how technological advances are reshaping interpretation of the First Amendment, the amendment that guarantees, among other things, free speech and free press. It has been said that the power of the press belongs to the person who owns one. Today as the Internet turns desktops and laptops into personal presses, First Amendment rights are challenged and a power shift seems to be under way. Bloggers are staking a claim to "grassroots journalism," and print and broadcast journalists are looking to the future and wondering where their reporting skills fit in. What's credible? What's not? And, just how far does the First Amendment protect this new wave of journalism?

First Amendment Center: Blogging (November 2005)
Robert A. Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, describes the word “blogging” as “terrible.” He explains: “It is worse than useless because it is an empty vessel into which people can — and do — pour whatever meaning suits them at the time. This breeds confusion and stands in the way of what I believe is the most important development in the media over the past several years — the growth of what is often referred to as ‘citizens media’ or ‘grassroots journalism.’ … Blogging is writing. Period.”

First Amendment Center: Judges, journalists compare notes on trial coverage (November 2005)

Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, said that because a blogger is his or her own editor, if what is posted is erroneous or libelous, it is the blogger’s responsibility to correct or withdraw it. “If a blogger refuses to [make a correction], there is no direct recourse,” Cox said. “You can’t go to their publisher because they are their own editor.”

Newseum/National Press Club: The State of the First Amendment (July 2005)

“It seems to me these issues [anonymous sourcing and trust of the media] are all tied together, that politicians don’t want to own their own words, reporters will play along with that for a variety of reasons many of which may be social or cultural reasons - to be good guys and good women - to just go along with the flow. I don't know that its anonymous sourcing per se that would be driving the concerns in the survey but the perception of reporters playing an inside game and that the reader is not included in that...I think as the reader, as the outsider, we often feel we're not being told what's going on and a big part of it is these kinds of tacit agreements in these relationships about anonymous sourcing...the writers have some other objective rather than telling the reader exactly what's going on.”

New York Times v. Cox

The New York Daily News: Tough Times for parody (March 2004)

A cyber-gadfly, hit with a copyright-infringement charge by The New York Times, yesterday stripped his Web site of a Times parody and watched it pop up elsewhere online. At issue is the devilishly realistic Times "Columnist Corrections" page that Robert Cox created for his site, The National Debate. Though dated "February 30," Cox's "Corrections" looks like a page from NYTimes.com and indeed "corrects," in a Timesian manner, perceived factual lapses in Times op-ed columns.

The New York Times: The Privileges of Opinion, the Obligations of Fact (March 2004)

Times lawyers took a legal sledgehammer to an imaginary Op-Ed corrections column published by Robert Cox of the Web site The National Debate...This sort of contentiousness makes a clear, publicly stated corrections policy necessary.suits, designed to squelch criticism of politicians and media.”

The Wall Street Journal: New York Times Finds Its Watchdog Has a Strong Bite (July 2004)

Cox waged a year-long campaign seeking a formal corrections policy for op-ed columnists

Online Journalism Review: To Their Surprise, Bloggers Are Force for Change in Big Media (May 2004)

Cox stands alone in that he brought a policy change to The New York Times

Media Bloggers Association Tsunami Video Hosting Initiative

BBC News: Tsunami disaster spurs video blogs (January 2005)

Another group called the Media Bloggers Association started a Tsunami Video Hosting Initiative. The group is linking people who have videos with hosts who have server space. "Vloggers are just like anybody else - they're real people," says Bob Cox, founder of the Media Bloggers Association. "Some people just want to do it to experiment with it, or get their message out or push their point of view. There are other people who are producing video content that are trying to make money."

Washington Post Partners with MBA On Video Hosting Initiative (January 2005)

IT Week: Mirror Image Teams-op to Help Tsunami Victims (February 2005)

"It was Robert Cox at the Media Bloggers Association who turned the idea into reality...they made it happen over the New Year's holiday weekend. I was amazed. You'd expect a project of this magnitude to take months to put into action under normal circumstances."

Media Bloggers Association and BlogNashville

Associated Press: Bloggers' conference emphasizes tools of reporting (May 2005)

Bob Cox, president of the conference-sponsoring Media Bloggers Association, said there are more than 8 million blogs, short for Web logs. Blogs are a running commentary of Internet postings on whatever their authors are interested in. Content often focuses on politics or media criticism and usually includes feedback from readers While much of his blogging has involved media criticism, Cox said he broke a major sports story when he posted the news that Notre Dame football coach would be fired before it appeared in mainstream news outlets.

The Tennessean: Bloggers: We can help media (May 2005)

Instead of viewing blogs as a competitor to traditional media, many bloggers at BlogNashville — a three-day conference ending today — see it as a way to engage citizens in discussion, which actually could help traditional media build its audience by supplementing news coverage and creating an interactive experience. The conference drew 300 hard-core bloggers to town for discussion, social networking and sessions on topics such as computer-aided research and reporting and how to make money off blogs.

Oh My News - Korea: Media Matters in the American Heartland (May 2005)

Over 300 writers, bloggers and reporters who normally hang out in cyberspace met face to face in Nashville, Tennessee at BlogNashville earlier this month. Organized by the Media Bloggers Association (MBA) BlogNashville's theme was "blogs and journalism" which is a shift from the way traditional media and even some blogs talk about "blogs versus journalism"...Some big name bloggers were in Nashville, like Dave Winer...called the "father of podcasting"...Glenn Reynolds, Terry Heaton, Hossein Derakhshan and Rebecca MacKinnon. Journalists at the conference included Dan Gillmor, author of WE the Media, J. D. Lasica, author of Darknet and Mark Glaser of Online Journalism Review.

Online Journalism Review: Seven big ideas (and one pet peeve) from BlogNashville (May 2005)

How many bloggers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Who knows, but a lot of light bulbs went off when 300-plus bloggers met up in Tennessee.

Project for Excellence in Journalism: State of the Media 2006 (2006)

We decided this year to monitor A Day in the Life of the News, to examine in detail what audiences got over 24 hours from a wide range of news media at the national and local level online, on radio, on television and in print...for denizens of the blogosphere...the subjects ranged...from a blogger convention in Nashville (Instapundit) to a terror alert on a British Airways flight (Little Green Footballs)...They also heard about many items not found in the other media, such as.. a recent blogger convention in Nashville.

Media Bloggers Association and the Maine Blogger Case

Boston Globe: Blogger who criticized Maine tourism office faces lawsuit (April 2006)

Other bloggers have rushed to Dutson's defense, portraying the matter as a clear-cut free speech and First Amendment issue. ''This is a deep-pocketed litigator trying to stop a small media outlet, a blog, for saying things that they don't like," said Robert A. Cox, a New Rochelle, N.Y., blogger and cofounder of the Media Bloggers Association.

Associated Press: Ad agency files suit against midcoast blogger (April 2006)

Dutson is a member of the Media Bloggers Association, which provides legal defense to its members. Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, called the suit an attempt by "a deep-pocketed litigant to bully a blogger for criticizing state officials and state contractors. "We have successfully defended MBA members in nine previous cases and I don't expect the outcome here to be any different," he said.

The Wall Street Journal: Law and the Blogosphere (April 2006)

The AP is reporting that a NYC advertising agency that works for the Maine Office of Tourism has filed a lawsuit against a Maine blogger who criticized the state’s marketing campaign. Warren Kremer Paino Advertising filed the action in federal court in Maine against Lance Dutson for libel, defamation and copyright infringement. Dutson writes a blog called Maine Web Report in which he has posted comments critical of the tourism office’s Web site marketing strategies that were developed by the ad agency. The suit alleges that Dutson’s blog contains defamatory statements and that the agency also owns the copyright to certain images Dutson uses in his blog.

Raising the very issue that’s at issue in the session currently being discussed here in HLS’s Ames Courtroom, Duston said: “It’s the latest in this battle between the whole First Amendment thing and new media.” The president of the Media Bloggers Association, of which Duston is a member, called the suit an attempt by “a deep-pocketed litigant to bully a blogger for criticizing state officials and state contractors.”

Boston Globe: Censorship (May 2006)

LANCE DUTSON is a hyperopinionated blogger, but that's no reason to shut him down, as an advertising agency is trying to do. To further freedom of speech, the Warren Kremer Paino agency ought to drop its lawsuit alleging defamation and copyright violation...The ad agency wants the federal court to assess Dutson hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. This is an attempt to use the law to force him into bankrupt silence.

Concord Monitor: Ad agency drops lawsuit against critical blogger (May 2006)

Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, said the case serves as a lesson for companies intent on going after bloggers. Media Bloggers Association is a national organization that provided legal assistance to Dutson. "Our message is simple: Don't mess with the bloggers," Cox said.

Orlando Sentinel: Orlando lawyer is Web hero after defending blogger (May 2006)

The suit touched off a free-speech furor among fellow bloggers as well as the Media Bloggers Association. Last week, under fire from bloggers and at the urging of Maine's top tourism official, the ad agency dropped its suit.

Additional media coverage of the Maine Blogger case

Chicago Tribune
Advertising Age
CIO Insight magazine
Portland Press Herald
MediaShift at PBS.org
Advertising Age
National Journal
Honolulu Star-Bulletin