Media Law

• Commercial Litigation
• Appeals

For over two decades as a media law attorney, Joel White has handled every type of media case, including libel cases, habeas corpus cases involving jailed reporters, and actions to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act and the Texas Public of Information Act. He has represented many of the country's largest and best known media groups, including Belo, CBS, The Hearst Corporation, Fox Television Stations and Bloomburg News. He is involved daily in open government projects, and has been instrumental in improving and enforcing the State's open government laws. He has successfully quashed dozens of newsroom subpoenas.

His practice includes every aspect of media law, including:

• Libel defense
• Habeas corpus actions on behalf of reporters
• Open government and FOIA requests
• Employment litigation
• Copyright litigation
• Pre-publication review
• Consultation on all aspects of publishing and broadcasting law
• Subpoenas

He is a member of the Media Law Resources Center, and is President of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

His published media law cases include:

• Hearst Corp. v. Skeen,159 S.W.3d 633 (Tex. 2005). An elected district attorney and two prosecutors could not prove actual malice with evidence that they had refuted the defamatory allegations in letters to the newspaper before publication.
• Associated Press v. Cook, 17 S.W.3d 447 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, no pet.). The Chief of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency could not recover for libel when he was accused of “taking the Fifth” in a perjury investigation and being a “blight on law enforcement.”
• Houston Chronicle Pub. Co. v. Edwards, 956 S.W.2d 813 (Tex. App. – Beaumont 1997, orig. proceeding). Granted a writ of mandamus against a trial judge for sealing search warrant affidavits in a homicide case.
• Houston Chronicle v. Woods, 949 S.W.2d 492 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 1997, orig. proceeding). Mandamus granted against trial judge for refusing to grant access to search warrant affidavits.
• Houston Chronicle v. Crapitto, 907 S.W.2d 99 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1995, orig. proceeding). Mandamus granted to force trial judge to open jury selection to the public in a highly publicized criminal case.
• Barbouti v. Hearst Corp., 927 S.W.2d 37 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 1996, writ denied)(en banc). An article alleging that the plaintiff had been investigated by the Defense Intelligence Agency for exporting dual purpose technology to the Middle East was held to be substantially true, when in fact he had been investigated by a grand jury and had lost a civil trial.
• Lenhart v. Thomas, 944 F. Supp. 525 (S.D. Tex. 1996). Habeas corpus granted for a journalist who refused to disclose confidential sources, overturning her contempt sentence.
• Tackett v. KRIV-TV Med. L. Rprt. 2092 (S.D. Tex. 1994). Eliminated intentional infliction of emotional distress as a potential claim in defamation actions.
• Glanville v. Glanville, 21 Med. L. Rptr. 1407 (N.D. Ga. 1993). Libel case dismissed against Atlanta Falcons owner Jerry Glanville.