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July 2025

MediaLawLetter June-July 2025

PUBLICATION:
in this issue

Nattering Nabobs, Fake News, and Now Pentagon Papers 2.0: Responding to Trump’s War on the Press

George Freeman

How can the media defend itself against a White House with an intentional strategy of demeaning the press and impugning its credibility, with no hesitation about lying?

Hunting for the Logic of FSC v. Paxton

Jeff Hermes

The categories “obscene as to minors” and “pornography” are not synonymous, and this decision threatens a wide array of valuable albeit adult-oriented content. And even if this case were limited to porn, you should still care because the disingenuous manner in which the Court reaches its result threatens the integrity of First Amendment jurisprudence as a whole.

N.J. High Court Upholds Daniel’s Law, Expands “Interests of Highest Order”

Bruce S. Rosen

The New Jersey Supreme Court – long a bulwark for media and first amendment defense – took a significant step backwards in a recent decision upholding application of Daniels Law against a local news site that had revealed the street address of a police director.

TOPICS :

Colorado Court Tosses Libel Suit Premised on Newspaper’s Reporting on Controversy Surrounding “Furries” in Public Schools

Steve Zansberg

On July 3, Colorado’s Court of Appeals ruled that a local advocacy group’s libel claims against a newspaper should have been dismissed by the trial judge in ruling on the paper’s anti-SLAPP motion. 

Pennsylvania Case Shows the Power of an Anti-SLAPP Law – Even When It’s Just a Suggestion

Kaitlin M. Gurney, David Korzenik, and Mona Houck

A case which could have been a cautionary tale about the Philadelphia court system is instead a story about the power of anti-SLAPP law – even when it does not apply to the case.

Defamation Claim Over Hollywood Feud Article Is Time-Barred

Minch Minchin and Rachel E. Fugate

In a published opinion following oral argument, the Eleventh Circuit upheld dismissal of a time-barred defamation suit filed by a movie producer against his rival and magazine The Hollywood Reporter.

Religious University’s Defamation Claims Against Newsweek Executives Dismissed

Cameron Stracher and Sara Tesoriero

In the latest chapter of the ongoing legal saga between Olivet University and Newsweek, Olivet was thwarted in its efforts to drag Newsweek executives into litigation in Florida when a Florida federal court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

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Fair Use in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Analysis of Recent Federal Court Decisions in AI Training Data Cases

Amanda Harris and Jeffrey Payne

In two published orders issued within the same week, two federal judges in the Northern District of California rendered significant decisions addressing whether the use of copyrighted works to train generative artificial intelligence models constitutes fair use under federal copyright law.

Nevada Supreme Court Stops Las Vegas PD’s “Reverse-Records Actions” To Drag Requesters Into Court

Benjamin Z. Lipman

In a case pitting LVMPD against the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the ACLU of Nevada, the Nevada Supreme Court recently held governmental entities cannot sue requesters in such “reverse-records actions.” 

MLRC in Belfast – Titanic Day of Discussion and Debate

Dave Heller

In June, MLRC held its European Media Lawyers Conference in the gritty and history-rich city of Belfast.

Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer

Carol Jean LoCicero

Tampa attorney on her start in the law, cameras in the courts, Florida must-sees and more.