Personal Liability

Podcasting & Personal Liability

What You Need to Know About Personal Liability

In 2014, September 30th became known as “International Podcast Day.” This day allows others who partake in the world of online broadcasting the opportunity to connect with one another. But what most people probably do not know is that people who are in the broadcasting industry need to have insurance policies that can protect them in their line of work. This protection is in regards to the issues associated with libel and slander within the field of journalism, whether that be broadcasting or the written word. Libel is considered a written form of defamation, whereas Slander is a form of spoken defamation of a person or company.

So, how exactly would someone in this business be protected through insurance? Well, some people already believe they are protected through their Commercial General Liability policy, but the base-line standard excludes any form of media or internet type of business. In this specific case, the broadcasting company would need a form of Media Liability Protection. This could provide protection from defamation, damaged reputation, plagiarism and even cases of copyright infringement. This could also protect against emotional distress of the party in question and and accusations of unfair competition.

**For speech to be considered Libel or Slander, it must result in the “harming” of someone’s “reputation, causing humiliation, or injuring one’s profession.” Believe it or not, even posting a harmful review online can be considered libel if malicious intent can be found. Why? Because if the main goal was to push away customers, then the company’s well-being has been damaged**

But what if you have your own podcast that takes place in your home? If that is the case, then the protections listed above are quite different. Instead of having the protection from Commercial General Liability, the protection would instead come from the “Personal Injury Protection” from either your home owners insurance or your renters insurance. But, it is important to fully check out your policy because they may be exclusions for any “business pursuits¹” that happen in the home. For example, if you podcast from your home as a hobby and it is not a “business” then you would in fact be protected. But, if you allow some advertisers to post on your site to help subsidize costs, then it could result in the interpretation of a business.

¹Business Pursuits: homeowners and renters policies often contain exclusions which deny coverage for claims arising out of “business pursuits”—a definition which varies from state-to-state (for example, blogs that even earn nominal advertising income can qualify as a business pursuit).

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