News & Opinion

Should FCC review Fox broadcasting licenses?

Former Fox executive Preston Padden in Daily Beast, June 14, 2023, asks the question, is it time for the Federal Communications Commission to consider revoking Fox broadcasting licenses? Section 308 (b) of the Communications Act requires the FCC to assess the character of those licensed to broadcast on public airwaves. In the Dominion defamation case, Rupert Murdock’s admitted that Fox repeatedly disseminated falsehoods about the 2020 election. The FCC is limited in its power to

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Local press in jeopardy when officials revoke public notice contracts

Local government officials are striking back at newspapers they consider to have given them unfair press by revoking their contracts to publish public notices. In the case of a Delhi, New York newspaper, The Reporter, that meant a loss of $13,000 a year, a crippling blow for a newspaper with 4,000 subscribers. The Reporter filed a First Amendment lawsuit and negotiated a settlement of a renewed contract for four years and $50,000 in damages and

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Howey v. City of Fresno

On April 18, 2023, Brian Howey, an Oakland-based investigative journalist, sued the City of Fresno under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) for the city’s refusal to release use-of-force records regarding the 2004 death of Michael Sanders, who was tased 10 times–resulting in multiple puncture wounds and severe burns to his groin–by three Fresno police officers. Howey sought these records while researching his story, “After police killings, families are kept in the dark and grilled

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