Download full text (PDF)
For years, First Amendment advocates have fought for camera and audio recorder access to judicial proceedings. Continue reading
On Sept. 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street (OWS), an ongoing series of demonstrations, was born after the Canadian activist group Adbusters organized a protest in Zuccotti Park in New York City's Wall Street financial district. Continue reading
Two separate cases moving through federal courts this year have left the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) trying to defend how it regulates swear words that are broadcast on television and radio and how it regulates the ownership of multiple media companies in the same community. Continue reading
Following its creation in January 2010, controversial copyright holding firm Righthaven LLC, launched a campaign of lawsuits challenging what it characterized as unauthorized republication of its clients' copyrighted news stories. Continue reading
Throughout 2011, a controversial proposal to protect privacy online sparked debate accentuating fundamental differences in European and American attitudes. Continue reading
A rash of recent clashes between police and citizens who are recording police activity in public has raised the eyebrows of civil liberties advocates who argue that there is a First Amendment right to record activity in public places, especially when it implicates important issues of public concern such as police conduct. Continue reading
Recent high-profile incidents of violence against journalists have highlighted the dangers faced by anyone using social media to report on international events. Continue reading
Following the Supreme Court's March 2011 ruling protecting funeral protestors' picketing rights in Snyder v. Phelps, legislators continue to advocate for the regulation of this controversial form of expression. Continue reading
The bullying and abuse of children through social media services remain a concern among legislators. Continue reading
British media lawyer Mark Stephens said a healthy debate about freedom of expression and the First Amendment eventually led notorious WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to seek him out as his attorney. Continue reading
A July 28, 2011 story in The New Yorker describes the 1998 "Chiquita Banana scandal," which Stephens said discouraged American journalists from the practice of phone hacking more than a decade before its widespread use across the Atlantic was revealed. Continue reading
Arlington, Va.-based political journalism website Politico found itself at the center of an ethics scandal in October 2011 when it was revealed that Kendra Marr, a Politico reporter for two years, plagiarized portions of at least seven news stories throughout 2011. Continue reading
American satirical newspaper The Onion sparked a mini-crisis in Washington on Sept. 29, 2011 when it posted on its Twitter page that members of Congress had taken visiting schoolchildren hostage, promoting a similar story on its website and in its print edition. Continue reading