From copyright to shield laws, from privacy to business structure -- the legal concerns of local news startups are at the heart of a new guide from J-Lab and the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, Law for Media Startups.

This 12-chapter online guide is co-authored by Jan Schaffer (Executive Director of J-Lab) and Jeff Kosseff (a communications and privacy attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, LLP, and also a former journalist). It covers:

1. Forming your business: sole proprietorships, LLCs and nonprofit startups
2. Labor law: hiring employees, freelancers and interns
3. Copyright, fair use and trademark
4. Native advertising, testimonials and endorsements
5. Selling online advertising
6. Spam: email and text communications
7. Privacy policies and terms of use
8. Defamation
9. User-generated content
10. Access to information and places
11. Confidentiality and government surveillance
12. Finding legal help

Much of the information in the guide was initially compiled to advise students at the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism as they came up with ideas for media startups. Also, the guide includes numerous examples of legal issues faced by several real-world local news startups.

"Our primary focus was local news startups -- but this information isn't limited to that," said Kosseff. "There are also lots of fascinating news startups that are topically based or otherwise not geographically defined. So this guide can be applied broadly."

In fact, the information in the guide can be applied not just to venues that publish news stories, but also community engagement efforts, such as convening public discourse on a community topic.

"There's great news on the public engagement front," said Kosseff. "Chapter 9, User-generated content, explains that section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act offers websites strong protections regarding content (such as comments) posted by users. That's my favorite chapter, in fact. Because laws protecting publishers of user-generated content have changed how the internet works. What would it look like if websites were legally responsible for content posted by users? Very different -- and probably not nearly as fun, engaging or useful."

In the internet age, copyrightis proving to be perhaps the most common legal problem that media startups face. The guide notes:

"You may want to republish text, images, or videos that users have posted on social media. You have to review the current terms of service for the specific site to determine whether the user has given permission for other people to republish the user's content. For instance, Facebook's current terms require users to allow third parties to republish photographs that are posted under the 'public' setting. But the users do not agree to third-party republication of photographs that are only available to friends."

Kosseff notes that with improvements in image-searching technology, "If you find a photo on the internet and just post it to your site, chances are good that the owner can track you down. If they’ve registered the copyright for that work, that can be expensive for you. For small community news site, that can put you out of business."

It is possible to search specifically for Creative Commons-licensed content (where content owners offer content for free republication under terms indicated by a variety of CC licenses). However, Kosseff warns that this isn't a panacea for copyright infringement woes.

"Creative Commons is always a good start, but it's not always foolproof," he said. "It’s a good starting point to limit your liability, but it's not foolproof. You still you really have to do your homework."

Privacy is another tricky issue for media startups. Kosseff (who splits his time as a lawyer between media law and privacy/security law for technology companies) observed:

"It's challenging to explain what media startups should do to satisfy privacy laws," he said. "In the U.S., that law is not really developed -- there's conflicting case law, with few concrete statues. For instance, if you need to collect information from users, there are laws that govern how you store and share that information. That's why it's important for websites to have privacy policies that explain these issues to users. If you aren't careful about how you structure your terms of use, that could end up increasing your liability -- or your business opportunities, such as what you can offer if you sell your business."

Kosseff emphasized that this guide is not intended to be a do-it-yourself solution for legal advice. "It would be very unwise to use this guide as a substitute for a lawyer. It's intended to give the startups an understanding of the issues they will be facing, and to know when they need to consult with a lawyer."

The chapter on finding legal help includes not just references to organizations such as the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Also, here's a useful tip for finding an attorney with appropriate media law experience:

"When looking for a lawyer well-versed in media law, consider asking whether he or she is a member of the Media Law Resource Center, which is a membership association for content providers and their lawyers. Membership can be quite expensive, but MLRC's publications and databases are the go-to place for keeping abreast of recent developments on media law and First Amendment issues. MLRC's Defense Counsel Section lists more than 200 law firms worldwide that specialize in defending media organizations."

Kosseff notes that the guide will be updated. Also, they're actively seeking input from attorneys across the U.S. about state-specific media law issues. So far that section only lists relevant legal concerns for Virginia. However, people with insight on, or information or questions about, state-specific media law are encouraged to contact the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism to help expand the guide.

Read more about the guide in this PBS MediaShift article by Jan Schaffer: Why Media Startups Need a Guide to Navigating the Law