First Amendment News

Former FBI Director James Comey is contending that the special counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 election should be released in full. He said Republicans were wrong to say that Justice Department rules stood in the way of transparency.”It is hard to imagine,” wrote Comey, “a case of greater public interest than one focused on the efforts of a foreign adversary to damage our democracy, and in which the president of the United

Evidence mounts that Fox News has shifted from conservative advocacy to assuming a role as front line defender of the Trump administration, in effect, becoming state TV. Fox News host Sean Hannity mingles with little restraint with administration officials at news sites and has had seven exclusive on-air interviews with Trump. Fox News has been granted 44 interviews overall. They have shut out employees and guest commentators including conservatives who were critical of Trump. Fox

The Second District U.S. Court of Appeals will decide whether to unseal court documents from a Florida case involving a convicted sex offender now under investigation by the Department of Justice. The convict, wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, was granted a plea deal that gave him a unusually light sentence given the severity of the offenses. (The Epoch Times, March 4, 2019, by William Patrick) A lawyer for Alan Dershowitz who had represented Epstein in the

Victims of clergy sex abuse asked Vatican leaders “to launch a new era of transparency” as a necessary step in respecting victims and establishing zero tolerance. Clergy in many parts of the world are denying the existence of abuse or downplaying its seriousness. (NBC News, February 20, 2019, by The Associated Press) German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said there should be no secrecy surrounding prosecutions of clergy involving sexual abuse of minors. “It is not transparency

Steve Hayes former of The Weekly Standard and the National Review’s Jonah Goldberg are seeking investors for a new conservative news enterprise that will rely on reporter content and  be “Trump-skeptical.” The two are banking on the belief that there is a thirst for news free of “partisan boosterism” combined with “provocative commentary and analysis.” (Yahoo!, February 28, 2019, by Sean Burch of The Wrap) This new foray follows on the startup, the Bulwark, a