First Amendment News

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases may be on his way out of President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 task force as he backed the New York Times’ claim that the president delayed ordering social distancing in the face of expert advice from multiple sources. Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that social distancing could have saved lives. Trump called the Times report fake and retweeted a message, “Time to #FireFaci.” (Courthouse News Service,

Irony runs thick as the public seeks news but finds news sources closing down from lack of ad revenue. In Louisiana, the Times Picayune and the Advocate furloughed 10 percent of its staff and put the rest on four-day work week. The Cleveland Plain Dealer laid off 22 newsroom staff and its health reporter. The Tampa Bay Times can only publish twice weekly. (The Guardian, April 9, 2020, by Adam Gabbatt) Local newspapers are needed

The Knight First Amendment Institute is suing under the Freedom of Information Act for all records of policies and procedures relating to the media gag order on all government officials including those with the Center for Disease Control. The gag order went into effect in late February when the Trump administration put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of all communications on the pandemic. (techdirt, April 9, 2020, by Mike Masnick) In asking the CDC

Celebrities including actor Woody Harelson are responsible for spreading a huge chunk of misinformation on the coronavirus according to a study by Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the study of journalism. Harrelson and singer MIA used social media to promote the bogus claim that 5G phone towers in China helped spread the virus. (The Guardian, April 8, 2020, by Jim Waterson) Those in the public limelight, including politicians and celebrities, produced 20 percent of the misinformation,

At every turn, President Donald Trump has used the powers of his office to squelch dissenting opinions and contrary behavior in corporate America. His treatment of Amazon illustrates his methods. As he came under criticism from CEO Jeff Bezos and Bezos-owned Washington Post, Trump struck back. He was not successful in getting the postal service to double postage fees for Amazon but did arrange for the Defense Department to award a huge contract involving cloud-computing