First Amendment Watch | Ballard Spahr Collaborative Video Series

February 27, 2019

First Amendment Watch collaborated with Ballard Spahr LLP to produce an ongoing video series to explain First Amendment principles and conflicts. These videos can serve as a supplement to our existing educational materials found here.

David Schulz, senior counsel at Ballard Spahr LLP, explains the reporter’s privilege, a right asserted by journalists to keep their sources confidential in the face of a court order to reveal the information.

Robert Penchina, partner at Ballard Spahr LLP, explains how to lawfully handle copyrighted and source material.

Joe Slaughter, associate at Ballard Spahr LLP, explains the difference between private and public actors in light of the controversy surrounding protests by NFL players during the National Anthem prior to football games.

Videos and Podcasts

Watch: Open Courts & Racial Justice

The world will be watching when the trial over George Floyd's killing opens this month. Listen to a panel discussion on how the First Amendment’s promise of public trials is playing out in an American courtroom amid the pandemic.

Videos and Podcasts

Dare to Speak: Free Speech in Our Troubled Times

Watch the full video interview between writer Salman Rushdie and human rights advocate and PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel as they discuss today's most pressing free speech issues, including the monopoly of social media giants and the rise in global attacks on free expression.

Videos and Podcasts

Panel on How to Safely and Legally Record the Police

Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, an investigative reporter and Justice Studies professor at San Jose State University and the coordinator of the Human Rights Journalism program at SJSU’s Human Rights Institute, hosted a virtual panel on the right to record police in public.

Videos and Podcasts

Videos on Free Speech Principles

First Amendment Watch, in partnership with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, has developed a series of videos for universities to use to teach students about their free speech rights and the principles behind the First Amendment.