Should online publishers have the same rights and responsibilities of traditional news publishers?

A case that pits Apple Computer against three online publishers promises to help determine just that. Apple seeks to force three news sites, PowerPage, Apple Insider and Think Secret, to reveal sources of leaked confidential information.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg has tentatively ruled that Apple can force the publishers to reveal the sources that disclosed information about Apple's unreleased products. The sites published information about a Firewire audio interface for Apple's Garageband music application.

Many bloggers and online media professionals are watching the case closely, because it may help shape the roles and rules of online news publishers.

Are Bloggers Journalists?

In the last few years, Americans have increasingly relied on the web for news and information. In the 2004 Presidential campaign, the Internet was a more important source of information than radio. Broadband users cite the Internet as a primary source of political news more frequently than television.

Many people looking for news and information go to the websites of traditional new providers. But about one-third believe that they can't get the news and information that they want from traditional sources, and many of these surfers are turning to blogs and other non-traditional sources of information. PowerPage, Apple Insider and Think Secret are blogs that have grown into micro-publishers of information about Apple products.

The publishers are being represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. According to EFF, "If Apple's subpoenas to Apple Insider, PowerPage and Think Secret are allowed to proceed, and the Apple news sites EFF is representing are forced to disclose the confidences gained by their reporters, potential confidential sources will be deterred from providing information to the online media, and the public will lose a vital outlet for independent news, analysis, and commentary. We can't let that happen."

Journalist Dan Gillmor, who publishes on- and off-line, has contributed a declaration supporting the online publishers. "The fact that the news content provided by Apple Insider and Power Page is published on the Internet rather than on paper is of no account in evaluating whether these are news periodicals whose staffs are engaged in the process of journalism," notes Gillmor. "It is not the medium, but the nature of the content and the process resulting in that content that are decisive. Both print magazines and online magazines share the essential characteristics of journalism."

Professor Thomas Goldstein, Director of the Mass Communications Program at the University of California at Berkeley, adds, "Just because Apple does not want these publications to report on its activities does not mean that they are not news publications."

Do Online Journalists Need to "Blog Different?"

Online journalism, from professional and amateur sources, is growing into a major source for news. As this happens, blogs and other non-traditional new sources will have to assume the responsibilities of traditional organizations. Apple's subpoena is giving the amateur journalists behind PowerPage, Apple Insider and Think Secret a crash course in the real, and sometimes surreal, world of journalism.

In this case, Apple's desire to control coverage of its products is putting it at odds with the blogging world, and many journalists from traditional news sources. For a company that's known for its media savvy, this seems like a dangerous gamble.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Commentary on the impact of the internet on the 2004 election

Web logs come of age as source of news

Electronic Frontier Foundation

ITworld.com, Ecommerce in Action

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