Do you own a media company? If yes, then you need media professional liability insurance. Just like any other form of business media companies also have their own fair share of risks and challenges, including being sued for invasion of privacy, libel, plagiarism, and much more. So, what exactly is media professional liability insurance and why do you need it? In this article, we will discuss the benefits of purchasing this type of insurance.
What exactly is media professional liability insurance?
Media professional liability insurance is designed to protect media companies and professionals from financial risks associated with the creation or publication of content that is not part of the coverage on a commercial general liability insurance policy.
Typically, media professional liability insurance is a subset of commercial general liability insurance policy and it is specifically designed to help media organizations and independent media professionals. It provides coverage’s against the invasion of privacy, defamation, copyright infringement, intentional torts, plagiarism among other related liabilities.
Generally, this type of insurance helps to protect broadcasters, publishers, authors, and advertisers from any claims that are unique to media for which they can be held financially liable.
Why do you need media professional liability insurance?
The question that you are probably asking yourself right now is, why should I purchase a media professional liability insurance, yet you have commercial general liability insurance that covers most of my risks? While commercial general liability insurance covers legal costs of lawsuits alleging property damage and bodily injuries caused by your products or services, it does not protect you from financial risk related to publication and content creation.
For instance, if your media company is sued over an alleged financial loss that occurred as a result of an error made when publishing a press release for your client, the media professional liability insurance will protect you against financial loss by covering legal fees, awards of damages and settlement costs.
Another good example if one of your employees befriends a political for the purpose of obtaining juicy information to post on the gossip column section of the magazine. The politician falls for it and shares the information. The employee post the information on the magazine and the politician later sues your media company for invasion of privacy. If such a scenario occurs to your media company, media professional liability insurance can come in handy by covering the costs of your legal defense and liability for damages depending on your coverage limits.
Media professionals and companies that create content that is consumed by a large population are at high risk of being sued for plagiarism, defamation, copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, and much more. Such lawsuits are not only embarrassing but also financially devastating. For instance, if one of your clients is not happy with the work delivered and sues your company, you will incur a huge financial burden, some of which can bring your business to its knees. Media professional liability insurance will cover all costs related to such lawsuits thus cushioning your company from incurring a huge financial burden.
Mistakes do happen, no matter how careful you are. The risk is even higher for media professionals whose content is consumed by the public. Sometimes people can sue your company even when you have done nothing wrong. Regardless of whether you made a mistake or not, the fact still remains that these lawsuits are very expensive, especially to smaller media companies. The best way to protect your company from incurring a huge financial loss is by purchasing media professional liability insurance.
Although the coverage differs from one insurer to another, media professional liability insurance will protect your media company against the following types of claims:
- Errors or omissions
- Actual or alleged negligence
- Uncompleted or undelivered work
- Plagiarism
- Copyright, slogan, or trade dress infringement
- Publications that violates privacy
- Libel, slander, or disparagement