Bloggers are beginning to get the same publishing rights as journalists. Just yesterday the California Supreme Court ruled that a blogger cannot be sued for slanderous comments posted on their blog by readers.

In another recent free speech case, David Milum became the first blogger to lose a libel suit. He now owes $50,000 to a lawyer he defamed with false accusations of bribery on his website.

Although judgments vary depending on the accusation, in this case, David Milum was liable because the comments were from his own blog. But what rules apply to websites with collaborative contributors?

This was asked at IPKAT by Hubert Best. “Does the rise of network journalism present a new challenge to the frontier between copyright and freedom of expression?’”

Right now there is more protection for online than offline writers, according to Wendy Seltzer, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and an assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School.

In a joint project like NewAssignment.Net, where there are many contributors, the host is not liable for defamation said Seltzer, who pointed to Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act. So even though NewAssignment.Net is a collaborative project, the individual is held responsible for libel.

Ms. Seltzer emphasizes that the First Amendment applies to everyone, regardless of industry selection, saying; “there are specific state shield laws, like confidentiality to sources or the right to withhold sources that protect journalists.” She acknowledges that these shield laws “apply more to traditional journalists [so to distinguish] one would need to look at the current definition of journalist” to determine who is protected, and that definition is changing.

But what happens if a reputable news source publishes the reporting of a distributed network?

There are areas where a company is held liable for the individual actions of contributors said Seltzer. Journalists, just like any person, cannot trespass, so the same applies to citizen journalists. “Trespassing on physical property is a tort, and if the trespasser is an agent of NewAssignment.Net, the company is held liable.” She continues to explain; that “open source journalists are treated as independents unless they are acting at the specific discretion of the company.”

The same legal roadblocks that exist for professional journalists could pose a problem for NewAssignment.Net said Seltzer. Journalists can be sued, so can bloggers. Both can enjoy reporter privileges but “they have to meet the same general rules applied to the industry.”

For now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation claims that lack of training, which sets them apart from professional journalists, is a big cause of legal problems for bloggers, sometimes leaving them unable to determine whether or not what they write is libel.

Perhaps this is another case for a pro-am collaboration.