First Amendment News

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who happened on teacher Social Security numbers on a government website immediately informed state education officials of this serious breach of privacy. Nonetheless, Missouri Governor Mike Parson chose to open a criminal investigation claiming the reporter hacked a state website. (The Washington Post, January 9, 2022, by William H. Feivogel) The Editorial Board of the Springfield News-Leader, October 15, 2021, castigated the governor for his poor understanding of the internet

Brookings researchers found that there was a “tsunami” of podcasts before the January 6 insurrection with lies about the 2020 presidential election. They found 60 percent of the most popular political podcasts gave credence to election fraud conspiracy theories. (The New York Times, January 4, 2022, by Stuart A. Thompson) An avalanche of posts on Facebook between the election and January 6 also attacked Joe Biden’s victory, many of them calling for violence and executions

Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post, January 5, 2022, notes that in trying to evade appearing before the House January 6 committee, Fox News’ Sean Hannity cited the First Amendment and his status as a journalist. Sullivan notes that Hannity’s communications with White House staff was advising rather than reporting. In fact, Hannity noted famously that he is a talk show host, not a journalist. Journalism professor June Cross said that Fox was not actually a

A New York state appeals court stayed an order requiring The New York Times to relinquish or destroy copies of legal memos belonging to Project Veritas while also sustaining the ban on publishing the memos. Project Veritas is suing the Times for defamation. The Times was investigating the theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter and in the course of its investigation obtained legal memos strategies for keeping Project Veritas reporting tactics

Media critics are telling journalists not to give former president Donald Trump’s press conference on January 6 prime coverage fearing that they will promote his lies concerning the insurrection and the 2020 election. New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen urges the networks to consider “the damage a demagogue can do to the public sphere, or the truth value of an event.” (salon, January 4, 2022, by Jessica Corbett) Rosen suggests that the media should