donal brown

New thrust in fight for right to record police

The Reporters Committee with 44 media groups filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a man assaulted by police who objected to his recording them using excessive force in an arrest. The Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled earlier in the case that a reasonable police officer would not know from their training they were violating the Constitutional when they assaulted the man. The brief explains that there were clear

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Judge clashes with Justice Department over media protections

A federal judge is asking why the new Justice Department policies on targeting journalists should not be applied in a criminal case against a host on Infowars, a far right conspiracy theory website. Federal judge Zia Faruqui said prosecutors would not provide details on their compliance with the DOJ new policy in pursuing an arrest warrant for talk-show host Owen Shroyer for alleged participation in the January 6 insurrection. (Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2021,

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FCC proposes $5 million fine for robocall lies about mail voting

The Federal Communications Commission wants to fine two conservatives for their 1,141 robocalls that claimed that if voters mailed in their ballots, their personal information wold be used to track down warrants and to collect outstanding debts. The activists also face criminal charges. (NBC News, August 24, 2021, by Jane C. Timm) The calls were placed before the 2020 presidential election and aimed at Back voters. The two activists, Jon Burkman and Jacob Wohl, have

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Afghan journalists imperiled

The Taliban is raiding the homes of journalists prompting one radio and TV director to go into hiding. The Taliban raided the Kabul home of Zalmay Latifi seizing cars and licensed weapons and then the next day two desktop computers. (Committee to Protect Journalists, August 24, 2021) Journalists are joining the thousands of Afghans trying to flee the country in spite of the Taliban’s pledge to respect the role of the media in correcting the

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Biden no show to the press

President Joe Biden is lagging far behind his two predecessors in granting interviews to news outlets. Barack Obama given 133 interviews by mid August, Donald Trump 50. Biden’s tally is nine. This may change as Biden’s popularity is wavering with the Afghanistan debacle and surging variant. (CNN, August 19, 2021, by Chris Cillizza) Biden’s news team is not anxious to put him before the news media and he waited two months into his administration to

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