2020 World Press Freedom Index Warns of the Impact of Coronavirus on Free Expression
“The public health crisis provides authoritarian governments with an opportunity to implement the notorious ‘shock doctrine’ – to take advantage of the fact that politics are on hold, the public is stunned and protests are out of the question, in order to impose measures that would be impossible in normal times,” Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.
A new lawsuit brought by a Wisconsin family claims police in their town violated their daughter’s First Amendment rights when they ordered her to remove three Instagram posts that described her experience battling COVID-19 symptoms.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Dismisses Censorship Suit Against YouTube
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed a lawsuit filed against YouTube and its parent company, Google, for alleged First Amendment violations. Prager University (PragerU), a nonprofit educational and media organization that espouses right-wing views, sued YouTube in October 2017 after the company either restricted or removed third-party ads on some of its videos.
Tennessee Lawmakers Copy Missouri’s Library Censorship Bill
Like the one proposed in Missouri, the Tennessee bill would make it so that a librarian could serve jail time for giving a child a book deemed inappropriate by the parental review board.
California DMV Settles with Owner of “Come on You Whites” License Plate
The license plate, which included a reference to a slogan used by Jonathan Kotler's favorite soccer team, was rejected after officials determined it contained an "offensive connotation."
Colorado Looks to Strengthen Protections for Student Journalists and Their Faculty Advisers
A Democratic state representative and former journalism teacher from Colorado, Barbara McLachlan, is pushing for legislation that would provide extra protections for student journalists and the teachers who advise them.
Missouri Introduces Bill Banning Books Containing “Age-Inappropriate Sexual Materials”
The bill threatens to withhold state aid to public libraries whose bookshelves house materials that contain “any form of nudity, sexuality, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse that: Taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors...”