Blogging as a First Amendment issue

Brian Bennett, a reporter for The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal, was ejected from an NCAA baseball tournament game for transmitting live updates during play. The newspaper's lawyer, Jon L. Fleischaker said, "It's a real question that we're being deprived of our right to report within the First Amendment from a public facility. Once a player hits a home run, that's a fact. It's on TV. Everybody sees it. [The NCAA] can't copyright that fact." According to Bennie Ivory, the newspaper's executive editor, live blogging of sporting events by the Courier-Journal was also conducted at the Orange Bowl and at the NCAA basketball tournament. Fleischaker believes that there is "potential for some action." If legal action is pursued, it would be a landmark case in blogging rights.