First Amendment News

A New York Times reporter learned plenty after he shelved digital news for the print variety, mainly that he had more spare time and was more relaxed and better informed. He found that online news featured commentary over news detail making it easier to be misled. Print is slower but more accurate. Those who get their news from Twitter and Facebook are hobbled, “The built-in incentives on Twitter and Facebook reward speed over depth, hot

Under pressure after their platform fell victim to Russian-linked trolls disrupting the 2016 elections, Facebook is sorely challenged to show it can shut down nefarious activity. President Donald Trump has shown no interest in helping out, and the House rejected attempts to establish a commission to study Russia’s assault on our elections.  There is also evidence that politicians are creating “news” sites to create propaganda designed to spread on Facebook. (BuzzFeed, March 6, 2018, by

The Defense Department warned the media not to publish a video depicting the ambush of U.S. troops last October in Niger that killed four soldiers. It said a choice to publish would help terrorists recruit. CBS was one of the first to run the video in spite of the warnings. (Politico, March 5, 2018, by Wesley Morgan) The United State African Command asked the media not to publish the video out of respect for the

A Florida Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee will hear Twitter’s viewpoint on how the online platform was bent to pull off a fake news hoax to damage the Miami Herald in its quest to cover the shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school. One tweet co-opted the identify of a reporter covering the tragedy and asked for photos of dead bodies at the school. Another fake story surfaced through Snapchat, this time a story

The federal government filed a brief in the ten-year quest by the American Civil Liberties Union for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) documents showing its bulk collection authority. The en blanc FISA court ruled the ACLU should be heard on the merits of its First Amendment argument but doubted it could dent the court’s security. The government brief argues that since the FISA court is exclusively dealing with U.S. foreign intelligence, great harm could result