Media liability answers for harm done by content. Nobody is injured and nothing is broken; a person's reputation, privacy or intellectual property is, and a general professional indemnity policy is often written without that in mind.
What the cover responds to
The core perils are defamation, breach of privacy or confidence, infringement of copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property, and misuse of a person's image or name. Claims of this kind arrive with legal costs attached almost immediately, because the first step is usually a demand to remove or correct rather than a court case, and the response has to be fast and informed. The defence cost is frequently the whole claim, which is what the cover is really funding.
Rights clearance is where most claims start
Using a photograph found online, a track under a video, a stock image beyond its licence, or a font without the right licence are the routine failures. They are unglamorous, common and expensive because rights holders and their agents pursue them systematically. Insurers ask what the business does about clearance: records of licences, a policy on stock and user generated content, and someone responsible for checking before publication.
Where it overlaps professional indemnity
An agency, a publisher, a marketing consultancy or a production company sells a service and publishes content, so it has both exposures. Some professional indemnity wordings include media perils and some exclude intellectual property entirely, which is the seam to look for. A combined media and professional indemnity wording removes the argument about which policy responds when a campaign both failed commercially and infringed something.
Online, archived and international
Content stays published, so a claim can arise years after the work, and the claims made basis means the policy in force when the complaint arrives responds. Archived material and a website's back catalogue are live exposures rather than history. Publication is also global by default, which makes the territorial and jurisdiction clauses unusually important for this cover, because defamation and privacy law differ sharply between countries.
Questions people ask about media liability insurance
What does media liability insurance cover?
Defamation, breach of privacy or confidence, intellectual property infringement and misuse of a person's image, together with the legal costs of responding.
Is it included in professional indemnity?
Sometimes. Some wordings include media perils, others exclude intellectual property entirely, so the wording has to be read rather than assumed.
Does old content on my site still matter?
Yes. Published content remains an exposure, and the claims made basis means the policy in force when a complaint arrives is the one that responds.