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Law Library Report Addresses Laws Protecting Journalists from Online Harassment

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Staff in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress have recently given attention to several media-related topics. These include Initiatives to Counter Fake News in Selected Countries (April 2019) and Limits on Freedom of Expression (June 2019). A newly-published report, Laws Protecting Journalists from Online Harassment (September 2019), addresses another aspect of the misuse of social media, specifically targeting journalists.

The widespread use of social media appears to have facilitated the harassment of journalists in online settings. This has reportedly been done by a variety of means, including by disseminating threats and disinformation, stalking, and broadcasting private or personally identifiable information about targeted journalists (doxing). While a significant number of journalists have reportedly faced online abuse and harassment, female journalists have been disproportionately affected. Concerns about the impact of the online harassment of journalists on freedom of expression and the free flow of information have been expressed by international, regional, and national institutions as well as by civil societies around the globe.

The recent Law Library report on Laws Protecting Journalists from Online Harassment examines incidents of online harassment of journalists in selected countries and highlights legal measures available in those countries to address the problem. The report is composed of a comparative summary, a survey of relevant international law instruments and activities directed at protecting against online threats and harassment of journalists, and individual surveys for the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Turkey. These countries were selected based on their relevant developments in this area, as well as on staff expertise currently available at the Law Library. The country surveys report on legal measures taken by individual countries related to protecting journalists from online harassment. The surveys indicate the existence of specific online and/or general offenses against harassment in the countries reviewed, the availability of procedures for the removal of offensive posts, as well as other measures.

We invite you to review the information provided in our report. You can also browse the Current Legal Topics or Comprehensive Index of Legal Reports pages for additional reports from the Law Library. To receive alerts when new reports are published, you can subscribe to email updates and the RSS feed for Law Library Reports (click the “subscribe” button on the Law Library’s website).

A Guide to Chinese Legal Research: Official Online Publication of Chinese Law (Update)

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Last year, I blogged about two online sources that are designated by China‘s 2015 revised Law on Legislation to officially publish Chinese laws, regulations, and rules (collectively “legislative documents”): National People’s Congress (NPC) website: designated by article 58 of the Law on Legislation to publish laws adopted by the NPC and its Standing Committee; and Chinese Government […]

Research Guides in Focus – How to Trace Federal Regulations: A Beginner’s Guide

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The following is a guest post by Anna Price, a legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress. For this latest installment of Research Guides in Focus, we are presenting an overview of one of the Law Library’s newest additions to our Research Guide collection – How to Trace Federal Regulations: A Beginner’s Guide. […]

Intern Cecilia Contreras Discusses Her Work with Law Library Special Collections

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The following is a guest post by Cecilia Contreras, an intern with the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library of Congress. As an intern with the Digital Resources Division through the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program (HNIP), I was given the opportunity to work with a collection of miscellaneous legal […]

Marking the 474th Anniversary of the Commencement of the Ecumenical Council of Trent

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The following is a guest post by Dante Figueroa, Senior Legal Information Analyst at the Law Library of Congress. Recently, I was reviewing a full cart of canon law books and found interesting materials related to the Catholic Church’s ecumenical councils. Ecumenical councils are “legally convened assemblies of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts for the […]

Report on Right of Huguenots to French Citizenship

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The following is a guest post from Nicolas Boring, the foreign law specialist covering French- speaking jurisdictions at the Law Library of Congress. Nicolas has previously blogged about The Library of the French National Assembly – Pic of the Week, among others. A recent Law Library of Congress report examines a little-known historical development: the right […]

An Interview with Susan Taylor-Pikulsky, Visual Information Specialist

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Today’s interview is with Susan Taylor-Pikulsky, a visual information specialist at the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background?  I’m originally from Youngstown, Ohio, famous for its steelmaking heyday and immortalized in its namesake Bruce Springsteen ballad. At age 16, I started my first job as a tour guide at the historic Arts and Crafts […]

Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for December 2019

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Back in November, Andrew shared that withdrawn cosponsors are now displayed on Senate Amendments in Congress.gov. The November release also brought improvements to the accessibility of search results for patrons using screen readers.  With our December release, the addition of next and previous arrows improves navigation between committee hearing detail pages. In addition, the compact view […]

The Constitution Annotated—Impeachment Clauses

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This guest post is by the Law Library’s Chief of the Public Services Division, Andrew Winston. Andrew has written several posts for the blog, including Federal Courts Web Archive Launched, A Visit to the Peace Palace Library, and The Revised Statutes of the United States: Predecessor to the U.S. Code. The Library of Congress has updated […]