This coverage is provided through Walterry Insurance Brokers, a division of Heffernan Insurance Brokers, with decades of specialized experience in media liability insurance.
Newspaper Libel Insurance for Publishers
To endure and succeed in today’s publishing environment, publishers have to keep pace with evolving technology, marketplace demands, competitors, and a changing legal landscape. Along with that comes an expanding list of media liability exposures — defamation, invasion of privacy, emotional distress, copyright and trademark infringement, misappropriation, and advertising errors and omissions. Even when a publisher has done nothing wrong, defense and settlement costs can reach into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
Consider the financial impact on your organization if:
- A person sued you for defamation, contending that a news article improperly linked him to terrorism.
- A company sued you for trademark infringement because the title of a book was confusingly similar to the name of its corporate magazine.
- A veteran’s estate sued you for invasion of privacy because a magazine published photographs of the veteran’s open casket.
- One of your news reporters was served with a subpoena for confidential source information in connection with a significant public scandal.
The Solution
For over 40 years, our media insurance team has been insuring publishers with content exposures — and we’ve seen them sued time and time again. Through our partnership with the National Newspaper Association (NNA), we offer the AXIS Media/Professional Insurance Policy, built specifically around the risks publishers face.
AXIS Media/Professional Insurance Policy Highlights:
- Our “occurrence form” covers activities that occur during the policy period (regardless of when a claim is first made).
- “All risk” coverage goes beyond specified “named perils” to include risks arising out of the core functions of publishing: gathering and creating information and communicating it to the public.
- Our policy covers subpoena defense costs for news media organizations, including legal fees and expenses to “quash or modify,” or “oppose a motion to enforce,” a covered subpoena.
- Built-in coverage for advertising content.
- Negligent publication coverage for any claim alleging harm to a person or entity that acted or failed to act in reliance upon the information published.
- You fully control whether to settle or retract content, and can choose between reimbursement of defense costs or duty to defend.
- No “insured versus insured” exclusion with respect to internal copyright disputes.
- Broad breach-of-contract carve-backs for, among other things, alleged failure to attribute authorship or credit under any agreement to which the insured is a party, and alleged misappropriation of ideas under implied contract.
- Punitive damages coverage, where insurable by law.
- Minimum of 90 days coverage for acquisitions and creations, with potential for automatic coverage until the end of the policy period (depending on actual or projected revenues).
- Internet Liability clause with automatic coverage for newly created websites after the policy incepts.
- Protection for confidential sources and broad application severability.
