donal brown

A federal judge ruled that a recently appointed head of the Voice of America violated the First Amendment by firing and reassigning executives and suspending an editor for what he claimed was unsympathetic coverage of President Donald Trump. “Editorial independence and journalistic integrity free of political interference are the core elements that sustain VOA and make us America’s voice,” said Acting VOA Director Elez Biberaj in response to the judge’s ruling. (NPR, November 21, 2020,

Five major news outlets told a federal judge that the Small Business Administration should not be allowed to delay releasing records identifying businesses that received COVID-19 relief funds. The agency has yet to release the records after the outlets won a judgment in their Freedom of Information Act lawsuit earlier this month. The information is needed to assess how the relief is working and to uncover any deficiencies in the process that the government should

The shift to remote court proceedings has sidelined the public in many instances. The federal district court in the District of Columbia with strains the press and public from “photographing, recording, and rebroadcasting of court proceedings.” These restraints are common in other jurisdictions, and in some cases the press has been punished for violating them. (Law360, November 16, 2020, by Matthew Schafer) Douglas Keith and Alicia Bannon, writing for the Brennan Center for Justice, September

Hiding the scientific basis for pandemic policies weakens the fight against the virus. In WIRED, November 16, 2020, Roxanne Khamsi cites the example of restrictions in New York state for quarantine of out-of-state visitors. “When health authorities present one rule after another without clear, science-based substantiation,” writes Khamsi, “their advice ends up seeming arbitrary and capricious. That erodes public trust and makes it harder to implement rules that do make sense—for this pandemic and any

The Los Angeles City Attorney filed a complaint that board members of a Crenshaw area development agency violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. The attorney alleges that the board members colluded in private to engender an appearance of pubic support for a buyer of a shopping mall. (City Watch, November 16, 2020, by Donald Byers and David Odusanya) The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education announced that after more than a year