firstamendment

A surfer claiming that a magazine article falsely portrayed him as a destitute, drug-using social outcast was unable to cash in on his lawsuit. A U.S. District Court jury found that there were no false statements in the article. -DB Pacific Business News (Honolulu) March 5, 2009 By Linda Chiem A federal court jury in Honolulu decided Thursday that a magazine profile of North Shore surfboard shaper Craig Elmer “Owl” Chapman was not libelous. It

Violent drug and street gangs and hostile governments are intimidating the press in Latin America restricting reporting on crucial issues and damaging democracy and prospects for improving the lives of the people. -DB Council on Hemispheric Affairs March 3, 2009 By Andy Blair and Ashley Wagner Currently, the Latin American press is up against formidable odds. Local drug cartels, street gangs, and government corruption are severely confining the ability of the press to report freely

Perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader won a Supreme Court ruling invalidating a Arizona state law requiring residency to circulate petitions to place the names of independent candidates on the ballot. -DB First Amendment Center March 9, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court is letting stand a decision that invalidated state laws regulating the ways independent presidential candidates can get on state ballots. The high court today refused to hear an appeal from the state

President Barack Obama promised to make government more transparent but so far has fallen short of fulfilling that pledge. -DB Secrecy News March 9, 2009 Many of the most substantive and significant documents generated by the Obama Administration to date are surprisingly absent from the White House web site. President Obama recently ordered the reorganization of the National Security Council through a Presidential Policy Directive. But the unclassified Directive is not even mentioned on the

The Cook County, Illinois sheriff wants to close down Craigslist’s adult section for promoting prostitution. Free speech defenders point out that a federal judge has already ruled that Web sites are not responsible for content posted by third parties. -DB Wall Street Journal Blogs March 6, 2009 By Geoffrey A. Fowler Craigslist, the online classifieds juggernaut, has run afoul of authorities once again, over the ads in its adult section. On Thursday, the sheriff in