The Newseum Institute’s First Amendment expert, Gene Policinski, originally published this commentary on May 11, 2018, on the Newseum blog, and has given First Amendment Watch permission to reprint. […]
President Trump Takes Fake News Accusations To New Level Tweeting Negative Coverage Equals Fake News
Presidents make use of all forms of communication to get their message out to voters. No other President has so effectively used Twitter as President Trump who has called it his "own form of media" used to counter "fake news." In his latest deluge, President Trump equates negative news coverage with "fake news" and threatens to revoke press credentials (again). The central role of the First Amendment is to protect the people in their writings about government affairs and government officials—and especially when it is negative, as that is when the government is most likely to try to punish writers. As James Madison wrote in his Virginia Report of 1800, freedom of the press protects the "right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.”
Journalist Protection Act Introduced in Congress
February 7, 2018: Journalists Need Legislated Protection Says House Rep With attacks both verbal and physical against journalists on the rise (see our deep dive into increasing threats against the […]
U.S. Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Idaho’s Ag Gag Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Idaho’s ag gag law that criminalized the making of undercover videos at agricultural facilities violates the First Amendment. The […]
Lata Nott Podcast: Journalism in the Age of Trump
The Newseum Institute’s First Amendment expert, Lata Nott, originally published this podcast on the Newseum blog, and has given First Amendment Watch permission to reprint. In this episode of The First […]
Country Music Association Backtracks on Reporter Ban At Awards Gala
The Country Music Association first told reporters covering the annual awards event next week that questions about “the Las Vegas tragedy, gun rights, political affiliations or topics of the like” […]
The President’s Mar-A-Lago Retreat and Presidential Access
Throughout history, U.S. Presidents have relied on private retreats to recharge during the trials of governing. George H.W. Bush had a “Summer White House” in Kennebunkport, Maine, FDR built a “Little White […]
Wyoming “Ag-Gag” Law Struck Down
Many states have tried to put "ag gag" laws in place. Wyoming's is the latest to fall before the courts free speech arguments.