MBA Media Liability Insurance for Bloggers & Media Law Training Course

NOTE TO GAWKER "JOURNALISTS": neither the MBA (nor I) make a dime from the insurance program.

The most basic (and cheapest) coverage for a solo blogger with a blog making less than $10,000 a year in revenue provides for $100,000 per incident for up to 3 incidents per year ($300,000 annual cap) with a $2,500 deductible at a cost of $540 for MBA members who agree to complete a 45 minute online training program and successfully complete an online assessment at the end of the course. This product applies to the vast majority of bloggers. Group blogs, blogs that focus on certain areas prone to litigation such as pharmaceutical company and local government officials, or blogs that do investigative reporting would pay higher premiums based on these various risk factors. The biggest blogs don't really apply to this discussion because sites like Huffington Post or Daily Kos or bloggish web sites like Politico are large enough that insurance companies will quote them individually due to the much larger premium they would be charged.

The online course content consists of primer on the basics of media law and a half dozen "ripped from the headlines" case studies plus dozens of assessment questions designed to assure that bloggers complete the course with a good knowledge of key concepts. The material has been developed by media law attorneys at Media Pro insurance with the cases being provided by the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School with input from lawyers at the EFF, ONA, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, our own General Counsel Ron Coleman and others. The course is being put online by New University, a Knight Foundation education program located at the Poynter Institute and is expected to go live no later than September 1st. The course will be required for all MBA members but be available to any blogger directly through News University so that taking the course is an option for every blogger whether they wish to join the MBA. Once Media Pro has put the underwriting guidelines online in their soon-to-be-launched insurance portal (sort of a GEICO for media liability insurance), that will be integrated into the MBA web site. The online course will then be integrated into the MBA membership application process so that taking the course will replace our old procedure of manually reviewing each application; this on the premise that the kind of blogger willing to sit through a 45 minute course on media law is just the kind of blogger would like to have in the MBA. MBA membership costs $25 and it is not required that MBA members purchase Media Pro insurance, it is an option for those who want it. In return for requiring MBA members to complete the online training course and agreeing to support the MBA's mission and statement of principles, Media Pro is offering a significant discount on what this type of insurance would otherwise cost. There has never been such a product but similar products such as those for freelance writers or very small newspapers, when purchased individually, would typically cost around $2,500 so the MBA Media Liability Insurance Program offers a savings of about two thousand dollars a year. The MBA does not receive any of the premiums, we are not a broker, and do not get commissions. We are, however, delivering value to the insurance company by providing them a highly efficient way to offer their insurance to, from their perspective, quality risk pool. To get compensated for that value the MBA negotiated services and support to be given directly to MBA members at no cost such as the legal referral service and the legal hotline.

Our hope is that all this will be ready before September so that we can announce the official launch at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas on September 20-21.