Any media entrepreneur – for-profit or nonprofit – will find “Law and Media Startups” a useful guide about legal issues involved in operating a business that go well beyond press freedom.

The guide from CUNY's Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism is designed to “help identify legal minefields in personnel policies and ad operations, set out certain rights and responsibilities for obeying state and federal laws, protect the content publications create and navigate fair use of copyrighted material created by others. It includes best practices for dealing with readers, users and partners.” 

Authors Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, an incubator for news entrepreneurs and innovators, and Jeff Kosseff, a communications and privacy attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, LLP, include a clear disclaimer that the information offered is for education purposes only, and not for advice. 

Their report covers legal aspects in creating and running a media startup.  They’ve organized the topics into 12 chapters cover: 

• Forming your Business: Sales Proprietorships, LLCs, Nonprofit Startups
• Labor Law:  Hiring Employees, Freelancers, Interns
• Copyright, Fair Use and Trademark 
• Native Advertising, Testimonials, Endorsements
• Selling Online Advertising
• SPAM; Email and Text Communications
• Privacy Policies and Terms of Use
• Defamation 
• User-generated Content
• Access to Information and Places
• Confidentiality and Government Surveillance
• Finding Legal Help