First Amendment News

A local journalist settled a California Public Records lawsuit with the City of Los Angeles to obtain head shots of police officers only to find himself the subject of a counter lawsuit claiming that providing the records was in error and that the photos included undercover officers. (Reason, April 30, 2024, by Arvind Dilawar) The Ukiah city manager ended public discussion abut the fate of the landmark Palace Hotel, noting that the discussion was not

Jonathan D. Cohen and James Fallows in The Hill, May 14, 2024, argue that with the decline of the news industry, the U.S. losing one third of its newspapers along with 43,000 jobs in the last 20 years, the industry can be revived not with a bailout but with policy changes that treat journalism like infrastructure, “…journalism needs to be treated more like critical infrastructure. Highways, museums, libraries, courts, public-safety agencies, the military, advanced research

Linda Greenhouse in The New York Times, May 17, 2024, speculates about the Supreme Court”s position on state laws that prohibit providing information about where to get an abortion. The court recently struck down a California law requiring anti-abortion clinics to provide information on where women could get abortions. The court called it unconstitutional compelled speech. Now it could soon rule on whether it can be illegal to give abortion-related advice. Greenhouse says, “…the justices

A MIT researcher found that Meta’s AI systems has learned to lie to humans, “AI’s increasing capabilities at deception poses serious risks, ranging from short-term risks, such as fraud and election tampering, to long-term risks, such as losing control of AI systems.” (Courthouse News Service, May 1, 2024, by Hillel Aron) For related FAC coverage, click here, here and here.

The Pulitzer Prizes of 2024 were notable for online news outlets winning more awards than newspapers. The score was 12 to eight. With the decline of print newsrooms, there has been an increase in online editions and with the Pulitzer count this year hope that hard-nosed journalism may yet prevail. (NiemanLab, May 7, 2024, by Joshua Benton) For related FAC coverage, click here.