Author Archive | David Ardia

Transparency in the Time of COVID-19

By on March 18, 2020 in Transparency

Amanda Martin, general counsel to the N.C. Press Association and a lawyer at Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych, PLLC, has graciously allowed me to post this information that she recently shared with her clients through her newsletter, FIRST FOR A REASON: Info & Ideas About the First Amendment & Media Law.  If you would like to sign up for her newsletter just email First@smvt.com with “subscribe” in the subject line. You can also follow her on Twitter @ncmedialaw.

TRANSPARENCY IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

I want to begin with my gratitude for the vital and hard work that you all have been doing to report on the coronavirus crisis. Personally, I check five or six news websites about every hour to see what has developed, what has changed. I know I am not alone. On behalf of all your readers and viewers, thank you!

It has become apparent that in the coming weeks and months, government operations are going to be disrupted beyond recognition, making your job harder at the very time that it is more important. You’ll find here a few reminders I hope will be useful, as well as links to some government resources that might be helpful.

First, UNC’s School of Government Professor Frayda Bluestein reminds, there is nothing about the Governor’s state of emergency declaration that relieves public officials and public agencies of their obligations under North Carolina open government laws. Neither the Governor nor local officials can wipe away those requirements.

Second, a quick refresher on the Open Meetings Law. Remember, the OML applies to quorums of public agencies. At its core, the OML requires three things: notice, access and minutes.

NOTICE

  • Notice for non-emergency, special meetings must be given at least 48 hours in advance of a meeting. To get individual notice, though, you must be on the notice list. If you haven’t done so already, ask to be on that list for any public body you cover (including committees and subcommittees). Public bodies can require you to renew your request annually, so just be sure.
  • It’s fairly easy to imagine there will be lots of emergency meetings in the future. The law for emergency meetings doesn’t have any specific time requirement. They can be called with short notice, and again, notice must be provided to anyone on the notice list.

ACCESS

  • Access means reasonable access. Imagine the Buncombe County Board of Education decides they will discuss at their next meeting canceling school for the balance of the year. And imagine everyone in Buncombe County wants to attend. They won’t all fit in the meeting room, and our Court of Appeals has ruled that the board doesn’t have to find a big enough room (or coliseum). Rather, agencies must provide access for a reasonable number of people. What is reasonable may be seen through the lens of health department guidance on how many people can gather together, but surely allowing some of the public must be required.
  • The OML provides for at least some public bodies to meet electronically. Professor Frayda Bluestein has written that there is no express statutory authorization for local governmental bodies to meet by phone or other electronic communications and that it’s questionable whether they can. But if they do, the law is clear that the public must be given a means to listen in. Bodies must provide “a location and means whereby members of the public may listen to the meeting and the notice of the meeting required by this Article shall specify that location.” G.S. § 143-318.13(a). The law allows charging a fee of $25.00 per listener, though Professor Bluestein has recommended that agencies waive that fee.

MINUTES

  • The OML requires that minutes be kept for all meetings. And for closed meetings, there must be a record “so that a person not in attendance would have a reasonable understanding of what transpired.” G.S. § 143-318.10(e).
  • There is no provision in the law requiring a recording of meetings – audio or video – but urging such recordings might be one way to mitigate the lack of transparency that might lessened access that results from this emergency.

Remember to use the Open Meetings Law and Public Records Law in concert with one another. If you are not able to be present at a meeting – either because it was closed to the public or because you’re covering developing news over at the hospital – remember that likely there are associated public records that might be instructive. In addition to asking for agendas and meeting packets, ask for memos, emails or other documents exchanged in advance of (or after) the meeting. Ask for notes taken by public officials at the meeting, too.

UNC’s School of Government has several resources detailed analyses, including these:

Stay tuned for updates on the issue of court access in light of Chief Justice Beasley’s order closing most courts. To see Chief Justice Beasley’s COVIC press conference and for official updates on the courts, including memos and court orders, go to

https://www.nccourts.gov/covid-19-coronavirus-updates

Finally, as one reporter said just last week when we were discussing COVID-19, these laws set minimums for transparency. Our job always is to push for as much access and as much information as possible. That’s how we can best serve the public who are relying on us to collect, digest and report information in these incomprehensible times.

Email us with feedback, questions, or topics that interest you: First@smvt.com

If you know someone else who might be interested in information like this, please forward this email so they can sign up by emailing First@smvt.com with “subscribe” in the subject line.

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Tech Ethics and Governance

By on April 18, 2019 in Privacy

TechEthicsTomorrow, I will be joining some fantastic colleagues at Duke University to discuss the legal and ethical issues associated with cyber searches and data privacy. The panel is part of the Kenan Institute for Ethics’s “Tech Ethics and Governance: 2019 Conference on the Ethics of Emerging Tech.”  The conference kicks off today at noon with danah boyd, founder/president of the Data & Society Research Institute, who will speak about data ethics and sociotechnical security, and continues tomorrow with a number of panels on subjects ranging from artificial intelligence, algorithmic decision making, predictive analytics, cybersurveillance, to cyberwar.

My panel will be at 10:45 AM in the Ahmadieh Family Conference Room, West Duke, Room 101.  It’s going to be fascinating discussion, moderated by Sara Sun Beale (Duke). The other panelists are Shane Stansbury (Duke), Jolynn Dellinger (UNC & Duke), Richard Myers (UNC), Stephanie Pell (West Point), and Neil Richards (Washington University).

You can read more about the conference here. Please come by if you are in the area.

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A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at Screen Media Ventures

By on March 30, 2019 in Copyright

FCC1Another beneficiary of the Center for Media Law and Policy’s Summer Grants Program last year was Chelsea Pieroni, a second-year law student at the UNC School of Law. Chelsea interned at Screen Media Ventures in New York.  Her reflections on her summer internship are below (you can read the reflections of other summer grant recipients here).

Last summer I had the opportunity to work as a legal intern for Screen Media Ventures. Located in Midtown Manhattan, Screen Media is an independent film distributor, and it had just been acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (remember those books?) right before I joined. Screen Media primarily focuses on distributing independent domestic and international feature films, and is also known for releasing award-winning documentaries and cult-classic horror flicks; in fact, one of its claims to fame is the third blockbuster of the Jeepers Creepers franchise, and in the last month it has acquired the rights to release Terry Gilliam’s highly-anticipated The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (featuring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce).

During my time at Screen Media, my hands were all over contracts—specifically, I wrote and edited agreements, amendments to contracts, and notices of assignment (alerting screen writers that their film’s distribution rights had shifted to Screen Media). I also participated in meetings with film writers, directors, and their attorneys. A lot of these tasks came down to negotiating and establishing distribution rights and, consequently, Screen Media’s profit. I also helped other Screen Media team members—involved in acquisitions, sales, and marketing—organize their archives by navigating old contracts, determining the expiration date select agreements, and sprucing up their databases.

Working at Screen Media was an amazing opportunity to get a glimpse into the world of in-house practice. Because the office was relatively small, I was able to be involved hands-on on projects, knew what the rest of the team was working on, and pitched in to help other departments whenever I could. As someone who is interested in pursuing the legal side of the arts, it was interesting to witness in-person the nuts and bolts behind the scenes that are needed to release movies to the public. Additionally, my summer at Screen Media gave me valuable transactional experience that would help me guide my future legal job search.

Finally, this was my first time living in New York City, and I absolutely loved it. I fell in love with it all—commuting by subway, grabbing real bagels for lunch, and having the world’s most fascinating entertainment hubs, museums, and landmarks within a few minutes of my office. While what they say about Midtown is true—it’s loud, packed, and rush hour is ‘round the clock—I could not get enough of taking walks to Bryant Park, grabbing dinner on the Lower East Side, and catching art pop-ups in Brooklyn. My 2018 summer was an incredibly formative experience that has made a huge impact on my future career path—in fact, now I am fully committed to sitting for the NY Bar, and will be returning to the city this summer.

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A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the FCC

By on March 28, 2019 in FCC

FCC1From Morgan Schick, a second-year law student at the UNC School of Law, who interned at the Federal Communications Commission and received one of the Center’s Summer Grants:

Last summer, I interned for the Pricing Policy Division of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. The FCC regulates communications by telephone, radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Specifically, the Pricing Policy Division is within the Wireline Competition Bureau, and is responsible for regulating the rates charged by telecommunications carriers to ensure that all Americans have access to robust, affordable broadband and voice services.

This internship provided an excellent opportunity to learn about telecommunications and antitrust policy, while experiencing the administrative process firsthand. I spent much of my time researching and drafting memoranda about the separations of jurisdiction between state and federal pricing regulation. This presented an interesting issue, as regulation at the state level is often impractical due to the interstate nature of these services.

In addition, I reviewed and analyzed industry comments on several Notices of Proposed Rulemaking regarding issues such as Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and Inmate Calling Services, or the telephone rates charged at prisons and jails. This presented a unique antitrust issue, as these facilities face no competition, allowing unchecked carriers to charge exorbitant prices to inmates calling their families.

The FCC has a robust intern program. Last summer, over 60 law students interned throughout the Commission’s various bureaus and the Office of General Counsel. Each week, interns were invited to attend a brown-bag lunch with panel discussions of lawyers from various positions—including Chairman Ajit Pai. The FCC facilitated several networking happy hours throughout the summer, and took us to a Nationals game and a tour of the Capitol. In addition, every intern was assigned a in a mentor to help us navigate the world of communications law.

The individuals I worked with at FCC were incredibly smart, and truly cared about helping interns develop professionally. I made invaluable connections with lawyers throughout the industry last summer, including one which led to my internship this coming summer. In addition, I felt as though the work I did was highly substantive, and prepared me for any sort of career in administrative law. I greatly enjoyed my time at FCC, and highly recommend students interested in media, communications, or antitrust law to apply.

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A Dual-Degree Student’s Summer Experience at NPR

By on March 15, 2019 in Journalism

From Mariam Turner, a fourth-year dual degree student at UNC pursuing a JD and an MA in Mass Communication, who interned at National Public Radio:

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work at NPR in the Office of the General Counsel as the Copyright Legal Intern. NPR is a nonprofit public media organization, headquartered in DC, dedicated to producing unbiased, quality journalism and cultural programming.

During my time there, I was exposed to every type of media law issue that a large news organization deals with on a daily basis. Although my work was generally copyright focused, I was around so many brilliant attorneys who worked in every area of the law that might affect NPR and I learned a huge amount by helping out when the opportunity arose.

Most of the time, I helped answer fair use questions, resolve copyright issues that showed up on various social media sites, and conducted research. I worked with reporters and journalists to help figure out what media they could incorporate into their work without running into copyright issues, and I got a chance to meet so many amazing people during this time – although I will say there is nothing more startling then hearing someone’s voice on the radio and then speaking to them at work!

Besides the work, which was a ton of fun in its own right, I was encouraged to explore DC and go to media law related events whenever possible. I got to visit the National Press Club, have lunch with prominent media law attorneys and scholars, and so much more! I even got to watch multiple Tiny Desk concerts in person!

Overall, NPR was an absolutely amazing place to work, and I was truly sad when the summer ended. I learned so much, and realize that I really do love working in media law. If you ever have the opportunity to work there, or even just take a tour of the building, you should. It’s a wonderful place, filled with wonderful people, and this internship was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had!

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