Did you know: If you’re working on a story and need a quick legal opinion about something in your script you’re concerned about, advice is just a phone call away?

Yesterday, when I was writing my technology column for CBC Radio One’s regional morning shows, I discovered I was a little in over my head with a legal question. I’m reporting this week on a company which has been attacked on blogs. I needed to know: Can I report that people are accusing the company of having “a kick-back scheme”? Or would that qualify as (re-)publishing a defamation, which would expose the CBC to liability?

With a couple of clicks, I found the Getting Legal Advice [internal link only] page on iO. Picked up the phone, read the part of my script in question to one of our senior lawyers, and got an answer (it’s fine to report that — covered under Fair Comment).

You can find the phone numbers of these people on that page. Be sure you’ve got this information at hand:

• names of sources, the number of sources, the positions held by sources and the extent of their personal knowledge of the event in question;

• all documentation, its substance and how it was obtained;

• location where any comments were made (in a court of law or a legislature, or in the street);

• circumstances in which reports on an event or individual were made.

Related links (all internal links only):

• Getting Legal Advice on Contracts and National Agreements
• Using Commercial Music
• Using Photos and Stills
• Using Footage
• Running a Contest

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