Writing Without Fear of Libel

Public Citizen has just released a short, easy-to-read report called Writing with Libel in Mind: A Guide for Nonprofits and Bloggers. It's essential that organizations involved with advocacy or controversial issues be familiar with the basics of libel, but a guide like this could actually be useful for any nonprofit with a blog or newsletter.

The guide examines the legal distinction between a fact and an opinion (it's more subtle than you might think) as well as protecting the rights of anonymous sources and other tricky issues. Of course, the guide is written from a general U.S. perspective and laws vary from state to state, so it's not a replacement for competent legal counsel. (via)

For more nonprofit blogging resources, check out Should Your Nonprofit Have a Blog? and the accompanying Emerging Technologies forum discussion.