First Amendment News

With success using sites such Flickr, Facebook YouTube and others to share information with the public, the General Services Administration is planning to extend to other sites such as iTunes and LinkedIn. -DB NextGov May 22, 2009 By Gautham Nagesh Agencies have launched social networking applications at such a fast pace that government officials said on Friday that they plan to add more applications, such as Apple’s popular media store iTunes and the career-networking site

A San Francisco Chronicle editorial argues that the University of California must do more than give lip-service to the importance of whistle-blower protection laws. UC is opposing legislation that would provide that protection for its employees. -DB San Francisco Chronicle Editorial May 26, 2009 The University of California is lobbying against state legislation that would provide whistle-blowers within its ranks the same legal protections as other state employees. The compelling need for such legislation became

A group of Sausalito citizens wants to know the details of closed-door deliberations leading to a failed bid on waterfront property in February. The group wants to know who voted to keep the deliberations secret and their reasons for doing so. -DB Marin Independent Journal May 23, 2009 By Mark Prado A grassroots Sausalito group is circulating a petition asking the City Council to disclose closed-door deliberations regarding a failed attempt to buy a 16-acre

Ventura County judges are failing to meet guidelines set down by the Supreme Court in closing murder trials to the public. Peter Scheer of the California First Amendment Coalition says that recent court rulings require judges to state their reasons in open court when they exclude the public. -DB Ventura County Star May 13, 2009 By Raul Hernandez In at least three separate murder cases between 2006 and this year, Ventura County Superior Court judges

Allvoices.com, a new citizen journalism site, is now paying contributors and working to improve quality by taking such steps as eliminating copyright violations. -DB San Francisco Chronicle May 26, 2009 By Deborah Gage Last August, we reported on Allvoices.com, a news site that had started to pay people for contributions. The idea was to create a community where people from all over the world could get together and talk about current events. Ten months later,