The Santa Ana City Council failed to comply with the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law when they did not allow the public to comment on issues disclose in a closed door meeting on July 18. They also changed the location of the closed door meeting without notifying the public. -db From a commentary in the Voice of OC, July 21, 2011, by Adam Elmahrek. Full story
Writing in The New York Times, Ryan Linkof, a scholar who has studied tabloid journalism, says that it is “for the better” that tabloids violate privacy in pursuit of the tantillizing scoop. Linkof argues that you don’t have to support illegal activity such as hacking the phones of innocent victims to defend intrusive reporting. Linkof says most tabloid publications avoid illegal practices and carry on in the journalistic tradition, playing an important role in exposing
A former tabloid reporter says the tabloids are mired in illegal conduct so dependent on it that they could not compete with the mainstream press without it. Tabloids routinely practice bribery and extortion along with other borderline activities. In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro says, “Although the law provides us with the tools we need to punish crimes related to free speech, the judicial system is too quick to bow
A working group of staff members at the Federal Communications Commission issued a report calling for Congress and policy makers to support civic journalism. “There is a shortage of ‘local, professional accountability reporting’ which will (not surprisingly to any of us journalist folk) lead to corruption. The working group foresees a world where non-profit media, including web sites, state-based C-SPANs, citizens tweeting, and Low Power FM stations, need to play a bigger role in filling
The federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a California man’s online rant against Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign did not constitute “serious threat” and was protected under the First Amendment. The man had posted the comments, “Obama fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon,” “shoot the nig country fkd for another 4 years+, what nig has done ANYTHING right???? long term???? never in history, except sambos.”