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Should you know the details of a public official’s private deal?

FAC March 17, 2011

Tracking down records on key public figures can be a “Where’s Waldo” adventure. Case in point: California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco, moonlights as “Ambassador at Large” for the America’s Cup sailboat race coming to the Bay in 2013. So who has details of the deal and are you entitled to see them? Newsom’s job, according to the America’s Cup, is to “support the America’s Cup Event Authority in its efforts

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Bonds jurors won’t be ID’d until after trial

FAC March 15, 2011

The identity of jurors in the perjury trial of baseball star Barry Bonds won’t be revealed until after the case is concluded, a federal judge ruled Monday. According to California Watch, which has been covering developments leading up to the March 21 trial, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston said she was concerned that  “jurors could be approached or even harassed or offered money to provide information about themselves or the case” if their names

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College campuses: Harassment speech law reintroduced in Congress

donal brown March 15, 2011

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is opposing the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act recently reintroduced in Congress that prohibits harassment of students based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. Writing for FIRE, William Creeley says that there are already adequate laws on the books and that the proposed law threatens freedom of speech on campus, “The legislation’s definition of harassment is vague and subjective, and

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Political patisans load up on deceit largely discarded by reporters

donal brown March 15, 2011

As the recent assaults on NPR, Planned Parenthood and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker show, deceit is thriving as a tactic in the political arena as reporters in disguise are becoming rare. Politicians are wary of the tactics but like the benefits. Journalists are finding little public tolerance of deceit in news gathering New York Times’ reporter Jeremy W. Peters quotes Tom Rosenstiel, director of Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism about the news industry’s retreat,

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Libel rules with impunity on social network

donal brown March 15, 2011

The younger generation is filing few libel suits for such as lies and character assassination, fueling speculation that they have greater tolerance of “hurly, burly Internet conversation.” Or is it just that young people realize that bloggers have limited resources, decimating the chances of obtaining damages? -db From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, March 14, 2011, by Kevin Giles. Full Story

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