First Amendment News

Democrats in the House of Representatives on proposing a bill to stop foreign-owned corporations from using their funds to influence elections in the U.S. After the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, there was been a surge of foreign money in U.S. elections. The ban on political contributions from foreign nationals would be extended to companies at least partially owned by foreign nationals. (The Hill, December 14, 2021, by Karl Evers-Hillstrom) The bill, introduced by

With the onslaught of digital advertising and government suppression, journalists around the world are face daunting challenges to keep their news rooms humming while reporting the truth. Last week, the joint recipients of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Mruatov of Russia joined with Mark Thompson, former New York Times CEO, to form the International Fund of Public Interest Media. The goal is to provide close to one

Four academicians report that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is unable to fulfill a request for data on the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in a timely way, with compliance taking 55 years. “That may sound absurd,” write the academicians “but if you’re experienced with FOIA requests to the FDA, as we are, the slow timeline is just more proof that the agency needs a proactive, well-funded data-sharing system to protect public trust and promote scientific

A secretive division of the Department of Homeland Security investigated some 20 journalists to obtain their travel records and financial and personal information. In spite of an internal investigation that resulted in referrals for criminal prosecution of the investigators targeting journalists, no charges were filed, and the division called Customs and Border Protection is still operating. (Yahoo! News, December 11, 221, by Jana Winter) The Associated Press is asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

A New York Times investigation showed that serious abuses by the nation’s nursing homes were not including in a federal rating system set up to provide information to people about the safety and quality of the homes. Over 2700 “dangerous incidents” were omitted in entering the data in the ratings system run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S.). (The New York Times, December 10, 2021, by Robert Gebeloff, Katie Thomas, and Jessica