An appellate court in New Jersey
has ruled that a woman who slammed the software company Too Much Media on a message board isn't a "journalist" for purposes of the state's shield law. The controversial ruling means that the posts'
author, life coach Shellee Hale of Washington state, can be ordered to divulge her sources for her online remarks about Too Much Media, which is suing Hale for defamation.
New Jersey's
reporter shield law broadly allows journalists to protect the identity of their confidential sources. But the appellate court ruled that not all writers are entitled to claim the benefits of that law
"lest anyone with a webpage or who posts materials on the Internet would qualify."
The lawsuit grew out of allegedly defamatory posts by Hale on Oprano, which describes itself as "the Wall
Street Journal for the online adult entertainment industry." In one post, Hale hinted that Too Much Media engaged in "fraudulent, unethical and illegal uses of technology," according to the court's
opinion.
Too Much Media subsequently sued Hale for defamation, and as the case progressed, attempted to discover the identities of people who provided information to Hale. She argued that the
state's shield law gave her the right to protect her sources' identities.
A trial judge rejected Hale's argument and an appellate court upheld that ruling this week. The appellate court said
that Hale's posts to the message board were more akin to a letter to the editor than a work of journalism.
"Although any attempt at defining 'news' would ultimately prove illusory, some
delimiting standards must pertain lest anyone with a webpage or who posts materials on the Internet would qualify," the court stated.
The judges then went on to outline specific reasons why Hale
didn't qualify as a journalist: "Defendant has produced no credentials or proof of affiliation with any recognized news entity, nor has she demonstrated adherence to any standard of professional
responsibility regulating institutional journalism, such as editing, fact-checking or disclosure of conflicts of interest."
Too Much Media's lawyer, Joel Kreizman, says that the court correctly
decided that Hale wasn't acting as a journalist when she made the posts. "A journalist would issue a report," he says. "These posts were on a message board as opposed to any kind of blog."
But
Hale's lawyer, Jeffrey Pollock, criticized the decision. He says that New Jersey doesn't require that journalists have credentials or work for established news outlets to qualify for the shield law.
Instead, he says, the only criteria is whether people gathered information for the purpose of publication.
"If she doesn't qualify, who the hell does?" he asks. "How do you decide who's in and
who's out?"