First Amendment News

Reporters are being detained and even jailed for doing their jobs with Republican politicians taking the lead of former president Donald Trump in attacking the press. Some called for criminalizing leaks, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposes a weakening of Times v. Sullivan. (Columbia Journalism Review, February 20, 2023, by Jon Allsop) DeSantis held a panel discussion about the evils of Times v. Sullivan during which DeSantis accused the press of using Sullivan to protect

After airing sessions with guests parroting former president Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, Fox hosts voiced contempt for them behind the scenes. Perpetuating the stolen election fiction was part of the Fox strategy to retain Trump’s core following and keep their ratings up. (NPR, February 16, 2023, by David Folkenflik) According to records obtained by Dominion Voting Systems suing Fox for defamation, Fox executives chose to forsake the truth

A recent poll revealed that Americans have lost faith in news outlets’ ability to report the news without trying to mislead or persuade the public. Fifty percent said they disagreed with the statement that news outlets do not intend to mislead, while 52 percent disagreed with the statement that news outlets “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners.” (The Associated Press, February 15, 2023, by David Bauder) For related FAC coverage,

Families of victims of terrorist attacks in Paris and Istanbul are suing Google, Twitter, and Facebook for providing a platform for terrorists to post recruitment videos and other information; those postings were not taken down immediately. A federal law allows lawsuits against anyone aiding or abetting international terrorism. (Vox, February 16, 2023, by Ian Milhiser) In taking up Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh this month, the Supreme Court could make changes in Section

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed CEO’s of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Meta (Facebook) to find out how they worked with the Biden administration to allegedly stifle conservative voices. (USA TODAY, February 15, 2023, by Bart Jansen). Social media companies have been hammered by both Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans accusing the companies of liberal bias and Democrats pushing for greater effort to take down hateful speech and inaccurate information. (The Washington Post,