Newsgathering
Knight Institute and ACLU Ask Supreme Court to Revise Intelligence Agencies’ Systems of Prepublication Review
William HughesIn their present form, agency prepublication review regimes are sprawling and vague, and they lack the substantive and procedural safeguards the Supreme Court has ordinarily required of licensing schemes.
Police Officer Who Fired at Journalists During Protest Protected by Police Immunity Law
Andrew M. PauwelsThough finding that the photographers were not participants in the protest, were wearing press badges, and had not refused to comply with any specific direction from police, Judge Archer ruled that the statute immunized Corporal Debono from the charges and dismissed the case.
Fifth Circuit Decision: “It Is Not a Crime to Be a Journalist.”
JT MorrisA recent decision from the Fifth Circuit concluded that officials have no qualified immunity after they arrested a citizen journalist for asking a police officer for information as part of reporting the local news.
All Animals Are Equal: Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of First Amendment Challenge to Arkansas Ag-Gag Law
Mike NeppleIn Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Vaught,the court reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging an Arkansas “ag-gag” law, which allows commercial facilities to sue parties for conducting undercover investigations into farm animal welfare and recover up to $5,000 per day in damages.
As Harry And Meghan Become a Hybrid Royal /Celebrity Couple, What If Any Is Their Impact on Celebrity Reporting?
Amber Melville-BrownThe employment of a PR velvet glove around an iron legal fist appears to be the couple’s strategy for elbowing third party reporters and snappers out of the way as they take control of their own images.
Sixth Circuit Dismisses Journalist’s Claims of Interference in Newsgathering
Christopher ProczkoThomas believed that her removal and subsequent exclusion from the List was retribution, motivated by the City government’s disapproval of her coverage.
SCOTUS Ruling on Computer Fraud and Abuse Act May Help Investigative Journalists
Lynn Oberlander and Charles D. TobinJournalists may face less risk for commonplace investigative computer reporting techniques thanks to a recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Pentagon Papers 50 Years Later
George FreemanFifty years has not definitively resolved the impact and import of the Pentagon Papers case. Was it a monumental victory for the press? Was it a loss, since for the first time the courts imposed a prior restraint on a newspaper? Or was it an inconsequential one-off, since it hasn’t been a precedent for many…
Law Banning Audio Recording of Bail Proceedings in Philadelphia Is Unconstitutional
Paul Safier and Shawn F. SummersThis ruling appears to be the first federal court decision to recognize a First Amendment right to record judicial proceedings in any circumstance.
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Qualified Immunity for Police Officer
Jacqueline A. DeJournett and Peter CanfieldOn April 20, the Eleventh Circuit upheld qualified immunity for a police officer, finding that a witness to a highway accident not did have a clearly established right to photograph police conduct at the scene.