Crystal Cox Blogger sets precedence for ALL Bloggers; NOW, as a Matter of LAW. All Bloggers have Equal Rights as All Traditional Journalists and Reporters in the main stream Institutional Press.

"Bloggers have same First Amendment rights as the Press" Due to the January 2014 Landmark Court Ruling of Anti-Corruption Blogger Crystal L. Cox; Crystal Cox Case; Crystal Cox Blogger

"In a major free-speech ruling, the Ninth Circuit decreed that bloggers have the same First Amendment rights as the institutional, commercial press. The ruling demolishes the argument that in the eyes of the law, bloggers are not journalists."

"The Ninth circuit added that the blogger could not be held liable for "presumed damages" without a showing of "actual malice" -- that she knew the post was false or acted with reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.

"The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure, went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get both sides of a story. 

As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable: “With the advent of the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media . . . the line between the media and others who wish to comment on political and social issues becomes far more blurred.”

 Citizens United , 558 U .S. at 352. In defamation cases, the public-figure status of a plaintiff and the public importance of the statement at issue—not the identity of the speaker—provide the First Amendment touchstones," the Ninth Circuit said."

Source
http://blog.larrybodine.com/2014/01/articles/blogging/bloggers-have-same-first-amendment-rights-as-the-press/index.html

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