At more and more broadcast conventions, station owners have been asking questions about their legal liability for the use of social media.  What is their liability for the use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other services?  Could owners have liability if their station maintains its own page on which friends and followers may post statements which are defamatory or which could otherwise give rise to a lawsuit?  Can an employee’s actions on his or her own pages be attributed to the station?  Should stations restrict the use of social media by their employees on company time, or can that itself give rise to liability?  These are the same questions being asked by employers in other industries, and Davis Wright Tremaine is conducting two free on-line seminars on December 9 and December 15 to answer these questions.

While these seminars are not directed exclusively to broadcasters, they will address topics that broadcasters will find helpful in answering their questions on the use of social media.  Specific topics to be discussed include:

• Social media mechanics: How does social media work and what are employees doing on these sites?
• Employer liabilities: What new types of legal risks are created by employees using social media? How can employers protect themselves?
• Expectations of privacy: Do employers who blog or use social media in the workplace still enjoy a right to privacy? What can employers lawfully do to monitor or control online activities?
• Social media policies: What are the options and what should it contain? Is it necessary for your company to have a written policy?
• Managing defamation: If you or your company is defamed online, what can you do? What should you do?

More information on these free on-line seminars is available here.  To register for these free seminars, go the the registration site here.