General Journalism/Internet/Law resources:
• ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union is the nation's foremost advocate of individual rights -- litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States.

• The national ACLU has a new national edition HyperCard stack for students on their free press rights.

• The ACLU also has a Student Rights page with up to date information on that field

• News.com (C/NET)
A good place to find articles dealing with freedom of expression on the Internet.

• Internet Free Expression Alliance
An alliance of those supporting free expression who work to ensure the continuation of the Internet as a forum for open, diverse and unimpeded expression, to to promote openness in the use of the Internet and to identify new threats to that openness. Has an excellent list of resources on Internet freedom.

• Peacefire
Founded by college student Bennett Haselton, Peacefire was created in August 1996 to represent students' and minors' interests in the debate over freedom of speech on the Internet. There were very few people in mid-1996 speaking out against blocking software programs like CYBERsitter and Cyber Patrol, because most adults would not be affected by the proliferation of these programs. Peacefire's position on these issues is skewed from the "convential" position of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU and other non-student prominent advocates of free speech.

• Ethical Spectacle
Founder Jonathon Wallace’s says his intent in founding The Ethicqal Spectacle is to shine a lantern on the intersection at which ethics, law and politics meet (or collide) in our civilization, particularly that part of it known as the United States of America. That includes Examining what commonly used words and phrases really mean, as contrasted to what they appear to mean, Promoting freedom of speech, compassion, fairness and humility as the fundamental building blocks of private and public life and Never forgetting that law is no substitute for morality, that a major part of moral standards cannot be enforced by laws.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation
EFF is a respected voice for the rights of users of online technologies, arguing the best way to protect your rights on the Net is to be fully informed and to make your opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference by staying on top of the issues and debates that will shape the future of electronic communications.

• Center for Democracy and Technology
The center is designed to ensure the Internet and other new media can empower people to speak, be heard, participate in society and control information about themselves. But this promise can only be realized through an active commitment to advancing democratic values in public policy debates at home and abroad.

• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
CPSR is a public-interest alliance of computer scientists and others concerned about the impact of computer technology on society who work to influence decisions regarding the development and use of computers because those decisions have far-reaching consequences and reflect our basic values and priorities. As technical experts, CPSR members provide the public and policymakers with realistic assessments of the power, promise, and limitations of computer technology. As concerned citizens, we direct public attention to critical choices concerning the applications of computing and how those
choices affect society.

• American Library Association
Links to ALA positions on Internet filtering and alternatives

• Media Law and Ethics CM 353
A slide show about media law and ethics from Fredonia State University.

• Support Freedom of Speech
A student’s webpage about what happened to him concerning freedom of speech at his school.

• ACP/NSPA Student Media Sourcebook
A fantastic list of addresses and Websites to contact for legal and ethical information

• Journalism Organizations & Related Sites
Links to many other journalism sites. Most include journalistic writing and communication skills, but law sites are included.

• FACSNET
Background, resources and sources to help reporters

• A Reporter’s Internet Survival Guide

• Investigative Journalism on the Internet

• Investigative Reporters and Editors

• Think Tanks – New Directions for news

• AJR New Link

• Editor and Publisher home page

• National Newspaper Association

• Directory of discussion groups

• Writing Tips and Tools
This site is full of links to other sites, mainly writing and university handouts

• Words Work
Tip for writers and examples of good and bad writing plus links to additional resources

• National Campaign for Freedom of Expression

• The Freedom Forum Online

• Cyberspace Law Center
an evolving resource for those interested in legal issues concerning cyberspace.

• The National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State and National Freedom of Information Resources.
Part of the NFOIC's continued efforts to support citizen access to government information, the Freedom of Information Resource Web project provides a comprehensive guide to obtaining information guaranteed under state and federal open meetings and open records laws. Regularly updated and maintained, these pages contain
descriptions and links for FOI publications, contacts, legislation and current events.

• Reporter’s Quick Reference -- legal issues

• National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting

Government and related sites
• Fed Stat
A site for statistics to illustrate stories or to verify information from sources maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistics.

• The White House

• Library of Congress listing of legislation in Congress

• Military links to all branches

• Police-related links

• Centers for Disease Control

• Specialty search engines

• The Internet Sleuth

• Where the Wild Things are: Librarian’s Guide to the Best Information on the Net How Much How Many? Statistical Sources and Calculation Tools on the Net
Compiled by the St. Ambrose University library, this site links you to sources of statistics.

• Editor and Publisher’s Online Newspapers Listing
A place where you can see how other publications covered a story you are working on.

• Newspaper archives
Listings of Internet resources.

• Special Libraries Association, News Division
Compilation of expert directories and sources on the Internet

• Calculators On-Line Center

• Infomine:Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
A collection of evaluated reference sources to help answer quick questions put together by the University of California, Riverside.

• Internet Public Library

Sites for case law and court information:

• Findlaw’s
database includes all US Supreme Court opinions since 1983 searchable by year, citation, party names or keywords. An excellent site for Supreme Court decisions, according to the ACLU of Ohio.

United States Supreme Court Plus
includes searchable opinions from 1966 to the present, plus links to sound recordings of oral arguments.

• Villanova Law School
site contains all US Supreme Court opinions from 1937 to 1975.

• Opinions of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1995, searchable by party name, date of decision or keyword.

• Heiros Gamos
has links to lots of legal resources: private investigator and expert witness locators, discussion groups, law libraries and world governments.

• Courts.Net
features links to every web-linked federal and state court in the US.

• Legal dot Net
This site holds resources for both attorneys and laypeople, including legal chat rooms.

• West’s Legal Directory
This site indexes more than 800,000 attorneys across the nation.

• THOMAS
This site gives up-to-the-minute data on curently pending federal legislation and committee meetings.

• Free Expression Clearinghouse

• US Supreme Court Multimedia Database
The Oyez Project, Northwestern University


• Tapping Officials’ Secrets
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press makes this comprehensive guide to open records and meetings laws available tohelp journalists overcome the daily legal hurdles they encounter.

• Legal Issues

• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

• Accuracy in Media


• People for the American Way

• Queer Legal Resources

• First Amendment Cyber-Tribune

• EPIC

• Society of Professional Journalists

Other points of view
• Family Research Council
The Family Research Council exists to reaffirm and promote nationally, and
particularly in Washington, DC, the traditional family unit and the
Judeo-Christian value system upon which it is built. To accomplish this task, the Council will promote and defend traditional family values in print, broadcast and other media outlets; develop and advocate legislative and public policy initiatives which strengthen and fortify the family and promote traditional values; establish and maintain an accurate source of statistical and research information which reaffirms the importance of the family in our civilization and inform and educate citizens on how they can promote Biblical principles in our culture.

• Security Online
A list of and links to filtering companies.

• Enough is Enough (a pro filtering site)

• Library Watch Online magazine

• God Hates Fags
Sponsored by the Westboro Baptist church. Members traveled to picket the funeral of gay University of Montana student Matthew Shepard

• Simon Wiesenthal Center
This Los Angeles center tracks the activities of hate organizations.

• Stormfront
Run by a former Ku Klux Klansman who advocates separatism of whites and blacks

• Southern Poverty Law Center
A legal and educational organization that also monitors hate organizations.

• Journalism & Writers Resources, American Family Foundation