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A new legal assistance scheme for online journalists launched in the US has teamed up with industry body the Online News Association (ONA) to expand its reach. The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), launched in November last year by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society's Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP), will offer pro bono and reduced fee advice on issues faced by online journalists and digital media creators.

OMLN will deal with queries including copyright licensing and fair use, freelancer agreements and pre-publication review of content.

The partnership will help the service reach the ONA's more than 1,600 membership of news writers, editors, photographers and producers.

"Journalists starting up their own sites now need to focus on issues that help them create and sustain their businesses," says ONA executive director Jane McDonnell in a press release.

"This partnership helps address one of the most critical - providing a legal safety net for small news operations."

Publications and journalists applying for legal advice from OMLN will have to meet the network's criteria, which includes original reporting and work in the public interest.

The network, which received its initial funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has been trialled on journalism projects that have received grants through the foundation's Knight News Challenge competition.

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Written by

Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist, a contributor to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, co-founder of The Society of Freelance Journalists and the former editor of Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)

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