Diabetes blogger sues N.C. health board that said he violated law

Steve Cooksey, a Charlotte-area health blogger, has sued the N.C. Board of Dietetics/Nutrition after the agency sent him correspondence that said he violated laws by posting health advice.
The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm out of Arlington, Va., is representing Cooksey.
More from Karen Garloch, health and medical writer at the Charlotte Observer:

Steve Cooksey wants to help other people lose weight and get their diabetes under control the way he did, by eating a low-carbohydrate, meat-and-vegetables diet.

So, like many people today, he started a blog to share his experience and offer advice.

But when the N.C. Board of Dietetics/Nutrition contacted him about possible violations of state law for dispensing diet advice without a license, he says that had the effect of censorship.

This week, the 50-year-old Stanley man filed suit in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, claiming the state board has violated his First Amendment rights to free speech by putting limits on what he can say.

“Making Mr. Cooksey get a dietitian’s license to give advice is like making Dear Abby get a psychologist’s license,” said Jeff Rowes, a lawyer for the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm that is representing Cooksey.

Find Garloch’s full story here, (though that link might die after some time passes.) And see the Institute for Justice’s story about the diabetes blogger case.

- Andria Krewson

Linkfest: Photographers’ rights, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention

A photographer aims at his subject, taken by James Willamor.

Here’s a linkfest for people looking for information about photographers’ and videographers’ rights, compiled by James Willamor, to help visual journalists planning to cover the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. The list also includes links to some stories about photographers being arrested while covering Occupy protests elsewhere.

The big photojournalist organizations

SPJ – Society of Professional Journalists – Photojournalism toolbox (maybe the best source of links)
ASMP – American Society of Media Photographers (deals more with
copyright issues)
PPA – Professional Photographers of America (copyright issues)
NPPA – National Press Photographers Association (1st Amendment issues)
NPAA advocacy blog
NPAA code of ethics
NPAA guide to business practices

List of photography rights/ethics links

ACLU list of photography rights
ACLU – You Have Every Right to Photograph That Cop
Bert P. Krages, attorney The Photographer’s Right (a simple
handout popular for its succinctness)
First Amendment Center – Photography and the First Amendment
Time Lightbox – Fight for Your Right: Resources for Photographers Covering Protests
Photojournalism, An Ethical Approach by Paul Martin Lester (at Fullerton University)
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press – Photographers guide to
privacy
Pixiq – Rights and Respect in photography

Other

Carlos Miller – Photography is Not a Crime (reports on photographers’ rights news/cases)

Photographers being arrested covering Occupy protests

Vanity Fair – An Oral History of a Vanity Fair Photographer’s Arrest
at Occupy Wall Street
Washington Post – Photojournalist arrested at Occupy D.C.(links to
other arrest stories)
Poynter – Three-time Wisconsin “Photographer of the Year” arrested during Occupy rally

The state of the society: SPJ President John Ensslin speaks in Charlottte

John Ensslin, national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, spoke on the state of the society during a visit to Charlotte on Jan. 27. The organization’s national board held its winter meeting in Charlotte.

Ensslin’s speech emphasizes the strengths of the society: continuity, ethics, Quill magazine and support tools for individual journalists facing challenges while doing their jobs.

Ensslin and SPJ have been champions for journalists arrested while covering Occupy Wall Street protests. Ensslin has written thoughtful editorials and promises future support, and the society’s Legal Defense Fund provides legal assistance to individual journalists.

Ensslin, who was in Denver during the Democratic National Convention of 2008, also spoke to the challenges and fun ahead for the Charlotte chapter as the convention comes to Charlotte in September.

(Video from Rhiannon Bowman, text here from Andria Krewson.)

Use caution, Charlotte SPJ urges police

The Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is urging police and city administrators in North Carolina to use care and discretion as they respond to protest demonstrations that media reporters are covering.

According to the Associated Press, at least six credentialed journalists have been arrested or detained recently while covering protests in Chapel Hill and New York. Reporters have also been arrested in Atlanta, Nashville, Milwaukee and Richmond, Va.

“Unrest in our country is spurring protests, and it will continue to do so,” said Frank Barrows, the Charlotte chapter president and former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer. “The Democratic National Convention next year in Charlotte is apt to have many demonstrations accompanying it. So, especially now, it is critical that police throughout North Carolina develop the capacity to perceive — particularly in heated moments — the difference between protesters, who can sometimes be unruly and occasionally even break laws, and journalists legitimately on the scene to cover the news as a function of democracy.”

SPJ, a century-old national organization with more than 9,000 members, has called for all charges against the journalists recently arrested to be dropped. In those instances, the journalists were either wearing press credentials or explained to police that they were reporters covering the protests. They were clearly exercising the constitutional right of a free press.

“We know that as protests escalate it may be difficult for police to distinguish bystanders from participants, but it is clear now that many journalists have been erroneously arrested without cause,” SPJ national president John Ensslin said. “These errors must be rectified immediately.”

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

For more information on the Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, contact Barrows.