Media experts worry that the charges against the girls for distributing images of the fight could be used to stem legitimate journalism, particularly as media organizations increasingly call for contributions from everyday citizens.
It could have implications for media organizations that record video of something on the street or publish or broadcast images submitted by people with cellphones, said Guy Baehr, assistant director of Rutgers University's Journalism Resources Institute.
"It just seems like kind of a stretch," he said. "If you follow that reasoning, you could infringe on a person's First Amendment rights."
Girls Who Recorded Fight Are Charged
Police Say Teenagers Put Attack on Web
By Beth DeFalco
Associated Press
Friday, December 22, 2006; A08
TRENTON, N.J., Dec. 21 -- Not only was a teenage girl the victim of a planned attack outside a high school gymnasium, the attacker also arranged to have it recorded and put on the Internet for her classmates to see, authorities say.
As a result, authorities have charged two teenage girls with harassment. One was already facing an assault charge for allegedly starting the fight at South Brunswick High School.
Police said the girls, ages 14 and 16, staged the attack, then used the video of it to repeatedly harass their victim, whose age was not released. The names of the girls charged were withheld by police because they are minors.
South Brunswick Detective Jim Ryan said that police were notified about the Dec. 11 incident by the assault victim's parents. He said that the parents saw video of the fight on the Web.
"It was brutal," Ryan said of the video, which was described to him by another police officer. "Luckily, the female victim only received minor injuries."
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