National Press Photographers Lawyer Joins Media Law Conference

Mickey H. Osterreicher, General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, joins an already powerful group of presenters at the Media Law in the Digital Age Conference On Oct. 22, 2011 at Kennesaw State University.

Osterreicher will be on this panel:

Is Recording in Public a Crime? Mobile Devices and Newsgathering

Joining these other presenters:

• Jeff Hermes, Assistant Director of the Citizen Media Law Project, Berkman Center, Harvard University.
• Carlos Miller, Multimedia Journalist and blogger at Photography is Not a Crime,
• Valerie Cummings,  Assistant Professor of Journalism, Howard University

The panel will tackle these thorny issues:

In Massachusetts, a man was arrested for wiretapping after he used his cell phone in broad daylight in a public park to record an arrest, and a woman was arrested on her own property for photographing a car that has crashed through her fence.  In Miami Beach, police officers pointed their weapons at a man sitting in his car who had just videotaped the officers shooting another man, and seized his camera.  The new Illinois Eavesdropping Act prohibits audio recording of others in public without their permission, even if there is nothing secret about the recording and those recorded have no legitimate expectation of privacy.

• Can the First Amendment possibly allow this?
• And what does this mean for journalists who try to cover public officials and gather news in public places?

The panel will explore these recent events and discuss best practices for responding to such incidents.