A recent study shows that corrections in news reports improves audience comprehension but reduces trust in a journalist’s reporting. Allowing others to make corrections was not as effective in informing the audience. (Nieman Lab, March 27, 2023, by Dan Gillmor)
Former Trump Attorney General, William Barr argues (The Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2023) that Dominion’s defamation case against Fox News has fatal flaws. Barr echoes Fox’s contention that they were just covering the false statements of election deniers rather than endorsing them and that Fox hosts were expressing opinions in telling lies about the election and Trump’s defeat. Aaron Blake, The Washington Post, March 24, 2023, finds Barr’s arguments lacking. Barr said Fox was
Florida legislators are pushing a law to prevent the public from knowing about the travel of Governor Ron DeSantis, his family and staff. They cite security concerns in granting a public records exemption for transportation records. (Miami Herald, March 22, 2023, by Mary Ellen Klas) The proposed legislation would keep the travel records of the governor, their families and staff from public scrutiny and also retroactively shield recent trips by DeSantis, his family and staff.
Amy Davidson Sorkin in The New Yorker, March 19, 2023, writes that should Fox win its defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems, it would show that no matter how egregious your disregard of the truth might be, there would be no accountability under Times v. Sullivan thus undermining the decision. Noah Feldman of Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, March 18, 2023, writes that there is a way to allow news outlets to address false claims
First Amendment freedoms are under attack as censorship spreads and state legislatures propose laws that limit free expression and criticism of public officials. Experts say that there has been an upsurge in attacks that the U.S. has not seen in decades. (The Associated Press, March 15, 2023, by Rebecca Boone) Steven Greenhut in Reason, March 17, 2023, argues that given attempts of governments to “police the truth,” “…our nation would benefit from a renewed cultural