Business Insurance Coverage

Media Insurance: Protecting your Brand in 2023

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January 30, 2023 · 6.5 mins read

Media insurance is a type of errors and omissions insurance for businesses in the media industry. Generally, almost every business has a digital presence nowadays and is producing some kind of media content. The media sector is also susceptible to claims for breach of copyright, creation of misleading content, or slander. Therefore, media insurance is key to safeguarding your business from such claims.

What Media Insurance Covers

Risk management may not come into play at all times, but media insurance can protect you from claims that result in financial setbacks or reputation harm. Hence, media insurance provides a wide range of protection against various liability claims. Some of them are:

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work as your own without authority. This is a serious offense and can result in a lawsuit. As many ideas are often similar, plagiarism is a media liability claim that many businesses in the media sector can face. Your business can be held legally liable for using other’s content without authorization or substantially creating similar content, even if there is no copyright.

Defamation

Your business can be held legally accountable for publishing misleading or false statements against a third party. In other words, when you verbally make a false statement against someone or a company, it counts as libel. Similarly, a written false statement is classified as slander. For example, according to CNN Entertainment, the creators of the Netflix series “When They See Us” was recently sued for defamation. The series is marketed as a true story, but the claimant is stating that their portrayal in the series is defamatory and false.

Invasion of Privacy

As a media broadcaster and publisher, your business might have to capture stories about people and their lives. So, if you use their personal information or any sensitive data without consent or justification, your company can be subject to a lawsuit. According to Statista, 50 percent of online users are concerned about the misuse of data.

Copyright and Trademark Infringement

Your business can be penalized if you translate someone else’s book into a movie without their consent or authorization. Your business can be alleged for reproducing and distributing copyrighted work. Hence, copyright and trademark infringement can cost your business an arm and a leg, sometimes!

Disparagement

Similar to defamation, it involves claiming false things about products, businesses, or properties that may lead to reputational harm.

Missing Deadlines

Missed deadlines or delayed projects can leave a negative impact on your clients. Such actions can lead you to court for your inability to complete a task within the stipulated timeframe.

Who Needs Media Insurance?

Specifically designed for the media industry, below is a list of service providers who require media insurance:

Magazines, newspaper, as well as book publishers
Broadcasters
Periodicals or trade journals
Radio stations
Advertising agencies
Public relations and communication firms
Video and film production companies
Television stations
Post-production services
Content-focused websites

What does Media Insurance Cover?

The media industry plays a key role in disseminating information, creating content, as well as managing projects. You are likely to face accusations, both real and perceived, from clients or laypersons. The cost of a legal defense and settlement can be prohibitive. Whether you are a content creator or advertisement mastermind, insurance is highly recommended.

Policyholders can get the following coverages:

Legal defense costs

The expense of defense claims can generally be costly. A media liability policy will cover the cost of the legal defense of an insured party. Furthermore, some policies may incur investigation costs as a part of legal defense expenses.

Claim settlement costs

In cases like a compromised agreement, media liability claims can be settled outside of court. Nonetheless, claim settlement costs can be considerable. With media insurance, your financial burden could be as low as zero depending on your policy’s limits and deductibles.

Attorney fees

Legal cases such as defamation, and invasion of privacy can take months or even years to settle. Along with tying up your precious time, your business is also at stake. However, you settle the claim, there’s no escaping paying your attorney.

Thanks to media insurance, for it also provides coverage for infringement of intellectual property and breach of advertising regulations. Additionally, the policy will also indemnify for punitive damages.

Common Endorsements for Media Insurance

A publisher might purchase a media insurance policy that might not necessarily fit in the production business. Hence, the requirement for various types of insurance varies as per the need of your business.

You can add the following coverage to your media insurance:

Electronic data processing insurance

Much like in any other field, advanced technology provides support to media and production houses to produce and dispense work. But your media insurance will not suffice to provide protection for such devices. Consider electronic data processing insurance which includes coverage for:

Equipment: Includes laptops, monitors, as well as terminals
Media: Consists of loss of devices due to damage or theft
Data: Involves data recovery costs and loss of business income as a result of data loss

Some insurance policies you might want to consider are:

Business Owners Policy (BOP)

Since media insurance only covers claims alleged for intentional torts, adding a business owners policy will provide you with more value. Your BOP will combine two basic types of coverage:

General liability insurance:

Covers you against claims as a result of third-party bodily injury or property damage.

Commercial property insurance:

Provides coverage for losses incurred due to property damage caused by fire, explosions, or unforeseen weather conditions.

Commercial Cyber Liability Insurance

Many media companies have access to private, proprietary, and highly confidential data. This leaves them vulnerable to cyber–attacks in a day where the violation of data occurs with growing frequency. In their 2020 report,IBM IBM states that a data breach can cost a business $3.86 million on average. However, commercial cyber liability insurance will provide protection for your business if you become accountable for the violation of data.
Cyber liability insurance policies typically cover:

Crisis management and credit monitoring costs
Investigation and notification costs
Business income
Regulatory fines for penalties
Data privacy and network security liability

Policies Not Covered by Media Insurance

Mentioned below are the policies not covered by media insurance:

Bodily injury and property damage

It does not cover for damages of any physical property or casualties.

Breach of contract

If your business breaches a contract, media liability insurance will not provide any coverage.

Patent infringement

If your company uses, sells, or distributes patented products or ideas, media liability coverage will not pay for the legal claims. For instance, if your publication company produces someone else’s content without any authorization, the policy will not redeem your legal expenses.

Discriminatory employment practices

It excludes coverage for wrongful termination, harassment, or discrimination cases. You’ll need to add employment practices liability insurance to secure your business from any legal claims filed by employees.

Criminal acts

Criminal or nefarious acts are not covered. However, your insurance may defend you against crimes until you’re found guilty or admit to the crime.

Controversial content

It excludes claims related to adult, gambling, or gossip content.

Claims made by regulatory authorities

If the created content is against the law, then media liability insurance will not cover the cost of a lawsuit.

Security fraud offenses

If your business commits security fraud, then the policy becomes void.

Types of Insurance that Require Media Insurance Policy

Media insurance provides protection to a range of entertainers, developing as well as distributing content. It includes protection for a large array of individuals in the media business. Moreover, it includes people from professions such as broadcasters as well as publishers, advertising agencies, video and film producers. Examples of this coverage for these professions are:

Broadcasters and Publishers: Coverage is needed while they work on disseminating their content through various platforms around the world.

Advertising Agencies: They need coverage to protect themselves while they develop, organize and implement innovative marketing campaigns in an expanding market.

Video and Film Producers: Coverage is necessary to give them the confidence to move forward with their film ideas. With this coverage, they can be sure that no matter the budget of the film, their investment will be protected.

Factors that Determine the Cost of Media Insurance

The cost of media insurance depends on the type of coverage plan you choose. The premium rate can vary, depending on various factor such as:

Industry: Risks are unique to each industry as well as the nature of the work. Generally, the risk exposure of a newspaper publication is different compared to other industries.

Coverage limits: Each policy will have a limit to cover the loss. However, you can increase your limit according to your needs. Extra coverage means higher premium rates.

Claims history: You can expect a higher premium if you have previously made a media liability claim.

Types of public relation exposure: Your premium will increase if you are inclined to more public exposure. For example, the premium for a broadcaster or news publisher is higher than for advertising companies.

Number of clients: The cost or premium is directly proportional to the number of clients. In other words, more clients mean higher premium rates.

Media liability policies offer coverage against malware, viruses, or physical damage to your hardware. If you lose access to sensitive data, insurance will pay for data recovery, specialized IT services to remove malware, as well as many more. Purchasing media liability insurance can be complex, but an insurance agent can help you find the right coverage.

Find an agent near you and start your insurance journey today!

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