"Blogs are like virtual pubs."

It doesn’t matter whether you’re in consumer products PR, high-tech marketing, politics, or something else, it’s always about connecting with your audience.

Blogs are like virtual pubs… gotta love it.

Case in point is an ABA eReport article that discusses a New York State proposal that would designate legal blogs as advertising, thus subjecting them to state scrutiny and regulation:

"The storm was set off by a proposal that ‘computer-accessed communications’ such as blogs be included in New York’s definition of legal advertising, and therefore require state scrutiny. The proposal, by a committee created by the state’s Administrative Board of Courts, also suggests the state code of professional responsibility extend court jurisdiction to out-of-state legal advertising that appears in New York….

And if blog posts must be approved, what’s the point? ‘This seems to be another in a series of recent regulatory efforts by state bar regulators that seem woefully out of touch with the Internet era,’ wrote Dennis Kennedy, a St. Louis lawyer who posts at Between Lawyers." [Read Kennedy's post If Lawyers Can Advertise in New York, They Can Advertise Anywhere...But They Probably Can't.]

Equally bothersome, however, is when individuals expose themselves to legal liability by doing something that appears to be intentionally stupid. I’m referring to examples provided in the USA Today article Courts are asked to crack down on bloggers, websites (via Chris Heuer), such as posting false STD information about someone on Don’tDateHimGirl.com or setting up a fake MySpace.com page that contains obscene content. Not very smart — and that’s an understatement.

Josh Hallet, who is hosting Friday’s BlogOrlando conference, emailed the session leaders a reminder that our role isn’t to spoon feed the audience with information, but to lead and facilitate the discussion. Phew, that makes it a lot more interesting!

And since the Legal Issues session is scheduled for right after lunch, I hope no one’ll be in a food coma when they come back   Why? Well, because this session gives us an opportunity to cover some important areas, such as whether bloggers are considered journalists and if so, what legal protections they may have; libel & slander (and the role of satire); how to protect against liability regarding blog comments left by other people, and so on. And if we have time, we can also talk about what conflict management approaches, short of using cease and desist letters or initiating other legal action, may be open to bloggers.

In other words, this session will hopefully provide basic information that ultimately will help us avoid some mine fields and allow us to focus on what we really enjoy doing — communicating and interacting with our readers and others in the community. 

Here’s a brief list of some helpful sites to know about:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
• Media Bloggers Association
• The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
• Stanford Law School for Internet and Society

And these lists of blogs, compiled by 3L Epiphany, are also good information sources and commentary to keep on hand:

• Media Law blogs
• Internet Law blogs
• General Intellectual Property Law blogs
• Technology and the Law blogs

I recently started bookmarking legal-related information pertinent to blogs, podcasts and vlogging on del.icio.us. While the list definitely isn’t comprehensive, maybe you’ll find something of interest to you, so feel free to have a look.   

See you Friday!

Juan Manuel Mora, the Communications Director of Opus Dei, wrote a letter to the editor stating, in part:

"The photos of the discipline [a small whip] and the cilice [a chain] presented them in such a way that readers might not know whether they were looking at instruments of torture or a means of Christian penance that could fit in the palm of one’s hand. Their use is healthier and less painful than having an ear pierced or getting a tattoo."

Mora’s letter, using such terms as "healthier" (by what standards?) and "less painful" (by default admitting that pain is a result), does little to minimize the frequent perception that corporal mortification is a strange act practiced by members of a religious fringe. As Communications Director, an official voice of Opus Dei, was this the impression he meant to give?

Of course, the explanation of corporal mortification found on Opus Dei’s online press room doesn’t entirely alleviate this impression either:

"The Da Vinci Code makes it appear that Opus Dei members practice bloody mortifications. In fact, though history indicates that some Catholic saints have done so, Opus Dei members do not do this.

The Catholic Church advises people to practice mortification. The mystery of Jesus Christ’s Passion shows that voluntary sacrifice has a transcendent value and can bring spiritual benefits to others. Voluntary sacrifice also brings personal spiritual benefits, enabling one to resist the inclination to sin. For these reasons, the Church prescribes fasting on certain days and recommends that the faithful practice other sorts of mortification as well. Mortification is by no means the centerpiece of the Christian life, but nobody can grow closer to God without it: “There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2015)….

Some Opus Dei members also make limited use of the cilice and discipline, types of mortification that have always had a place in the Catholic tradition because of their symbolic reference to Christ’s Passion….The Da Vinci Code’s description of the cilice and discipline is greatly exaggerated and distorted: it is simply not possible to injure oneself with them as the book and film depict." 

]]> http://andreaweckerle.com/2006/05/does-opus-deis-communications-director-miss-the-mark.html/feed 10 http://andreaweckerle.com/2006/05/the-national-foundation-to-prevent-child-sexual-abuse-accuses-mcdonalds-of-hiring-convicted-sex-offenders.html http://andreaweckerle.com/2006/05/the-national-foundation-to-prevent-child-sexual-abuse-accuses-mcdonalds-of-hiring-convicted-sex-offenders.html#comments Tue, 02 May 2006 16:55:00 +0000 Andrea Weckerle http://andreaweckerle.com/?p=191 The National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse (NFPCSA) is calling for a boycott of McDonald’s restaurants after Nashville station NewsChannel 5 WTVF uncovered that nationwide, McDonald’s restaurants have hired "dozens" of convicted sex offenders.

According to the WTVF report, "McDonald’s says it has a policy against hiring sex offenders at its 8,000 or so company owned stores. But at the 18,000 franchise stores that operate under the golden arches, they’re free to hire anyone they want."

WTVF’s investigation revealed nine sex offenders in Delaware, thirteen in Indiana and sixteen in Louisiana working in McDonald’s restaurants. But, unfortunately:

"We can’t tell you how many other child molesters or other sex offenders are working at McDonald’s restaurants here in Tennessee or anywhere else. That’s because in most states, including Tennessee, sex offender registries don’t have information about employers. So the public can’t find out — until something bad happens."

No response yet on McDonald’s Corporate site.

(Photo sources: Happy Ronald McDonald here and sad Ronald McDonald here.)

In the abridged version of its World Citizens Guide, BDA offers these suggestions (see the PDF for elaborations on the suggestions) for making a favorable impression when traveling abroad:

1. Look. Listen. Learn.
2. Smile. Genuinely.
3. Think big. Act Small. be Humble.
4. Live, eat and play local.
5. Be patient.
6. Celebrate our diversity.
7. Become a student again.
8. Try the language.
9. Refrain from lecturing.
10. Dialog instead of monologue.
11. Use your hands. Watch your feet.
12. Leave the cliches at home.
13. Be proud, not arrogant.
14. Keep religion private.
15. Be quiet.
16. Check the atlas.
17. Agree to disagree respectfully.
18. Talk about something besides politics.
19. Be safety conscious, not fearful.
20. Dress for respect.
21. Know some global sports trivia.
22. Keep your word.
23. Show your best side.
24. Be a traveler, not a tourist.

Paul offers his own suggestion as well:

"Personally, though, the best way to connect with overseas audiences is to explain that you didn’t vote for the current U.S. administration and that you agree that it current policies are, to be as diplomatic as possible about it, misguided."

Meanwhile, Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and the new A Death in Belmont, gives these impressions in the article Welcome Stranger in this month’s National Geographic Adventure (print edition):

"An old friend of mine once observed that the arrival of a stranger in a rough town often presents locals with two options: Feed him or kill him. He was referring to some ancient time when the dilemma was literally that stark, but his larger point was that all societies must choose whom they let in and whom they keep out, and letting someone in entails more than just opening the city gates. Once you do that you become to some degree responsible for the stranger’s welfare. Travel, then, at its crudest, is the art of convincing people to take care of you rather than spurn you — or worse. It’s a knife-edge that makes a life spent at home feel not fully lived….

You had to be wary when you traveled, I realized, but you also had to be open. You had to protect yourself, but you couldn’t be so suspicious that you’d lie to avoid giving food to a stranger. These were lessons from the harsher parts of the world, but I started to think that maybe they were applicable anywhere. The starting point was respect; if you didn’t lead with that, even with street-corner thugs, nothing was going to turn out well. So you start with respect and see where that goes; if it doesn’t work, you switch to something else…. things pretty much come down to how you treat one another. There’s a certain liberty in that; there’s a certain justice."

For anyone who wants to learn more about the death penalty and how it is administered in the U.S., go to Pro-death penalty.com and the Death Penalty Information Center.

Here are some quick links of interest:

• Crimes punishable by the death penalty (DPIC)
• Methods of execution (DPIC) and methods of execution (Pro-death penalty.com)
• Scheduled executions (Pro-death penalty.com)
• State-by-state death penalty information (DCIP)
• State executions scheduled for 2006 (DCIP)
• The federal death penalty (DCIP)
• Federal death row prisoners (DCIP)

And to test your knowledge about the death penalty, follow this link to DPIC’s 10-question Death Penalty Quiz.

"[The students] acknowledge that with the exception of one lecture they sat in on this month, most of what they know about the course has come from friends and acquaintances who have taken the class. But, they said, those discussions, coupled with research they have done on [Coleman] McCarthy’s background, have convinced them that their school should not continue to offer Peace Studies unless significant changes are made. This is not an ideological debate, they said. Rather, what bothers them the most is that McCarthy offers students only one perspective." 

Despite the furor, the school’s administration intends to keep teaching the course. As Principal Sean Bulson stated: 

"Peace Studies is one of the things that makes B-CC unique…It’s been an institution here, and kids from all across the spectrum have taken it. It’s not about indoctrination. It’s about debate and dialogue."

McCarthy doesn’t hide the fact that he is a strong opponent of violence of any kind. However, he was puzzled by the students’ opposition:

"He said that although the two sat in on a recent class, they have not talked to him in depth about their concerns.

‘I’ve never said my views are right and theirs are wrong,’ he said about the students who take his course. ‘In fact, I cherish conservative dissenters. I wish we could get more of them in.’

But McCarthy’s unwavering belief in the importance of his work is summed up by his statement that "unless we teach them peace, someone else will teach them violence."

The Peace Studies course is currently taught at seven other Montgomery County, Maryland high schools. Back in the 1990s, when I had the pleasure of teaching this semester-long course at Wilson High School in Washington DC as part of my graduate school training, it was called "Alternatives to Violence."

While teaching this popular elective emphasizing nonviolent conflict resolution in interpersonal, community, national and international situations, my goal was to expose the students to ideas and topics they had never been confronted with before. And just as the Washington Post article stated, I remember many lively debates between myself and the students and amongst the students themselves.

We talked about such subjects as the civil rights movement, the death penalty, environmental activism, and political peace movements, among other things. Never was there any attempt to sugar-coat the facts. In talking about the death penalty, for example, of which about half of the students were in favor of and half opposed, we discussed the number of people who were executed and later found innocent of the particular crime for which they were imprisoned.

Rarely did any of the students not have a strong opinion one way or another. They were open-minded but not easily swayed if their own personal experiences didn’t comport with something in the curriculum. I remember one boy who was frustrated by my obviously idealistic insistence that talking through a problem was a way to resolve most disagreements.

He looked at me and said something along the lines of "Ms. Weckerle, you’ve obviously never been to my neighborhood. There we hit first and talk later."   

I learned a lot from those kids.

A comment made by Chuck Conconi (now Editor At Large of Washingtonian Magazine, but back then a journalist with the Washington Post) stood out for its unapologetic honesty. Speaking about his coverage of the movement, Conconi said,

"I could be fair in my reporting, but I couldn’t be objective."

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