Cast away / Vetted vet / Paper money

Cast away. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have turned away from legacy media by taking their messages to podcasts.

■ Donald Trump has voiced threats of darker days for news media and the First Amendment if he wins the November election.

■ A nation that cannot support free expression cannot generate free and independent thinking, declared professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall in a commentary for The Hill.
■ Two out of three Americans rated free speech as “very important” to their vote in 2024, according to findings in new poll from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

■ The decision by owner Jeff Bezos to halt presidential endorsements has drawn criticism inside and outside the newsroom of The Washington Post.

PAC rat? Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC awarded $1 million prizes in a petition-signing contest despite a Justice Department warning that it could be illegal.
■ Tesla has won its challenge against a National Labor Relations Board decision over a Musk tweet concerning workers’ unionization. 

■ A California state appeals court upheld a restraining order concerning a woman’s “school shooter” texts despite constitutional objections.
■ A New York law that requires food-delivery companies to provide customer data to restaurants violates the First Amendment, a federal district court ruled.

Vetted vet. A retired, disabled veterinarian has a First Amendment right to give online pet advice without an animal examination, a federal appeals court has ruled.
■ A federal judge ordered the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop issuing threats of criminal prosecution to television stations for airing an abortion-rights political ad.
■ Free-speech experts criticized a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that they say weakens anti-SLAPP suit protections.

■ Visitors can trace the history of free speech from its roots to the present day at a new exhibit at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.

Sign of faith. Requiring a South Carolina man to obtain a permit to hold a religious sign on public sidewalks may be a violation of his constitutional rights.
■ In Louisiana, a federal judge heard arguments on whether he should block a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom in the state.
■ A Missouri requirement for sex-offender yard signs on Halloween is a step too far, a U.S. district judge has ruled.

Paper money. Florida billionaire David Hoffmann is buying up local newspapers, declaring the industry is not dead yet.
■ A group of journalism funders will give $20 million in grants to more than 200 small local news outlets across the country.
■ While newspapers continued to close at a rate of two per week last year, digital news sites grew, the Associated Press reported.
■ Think you know what is the nation’s third-largest magazine? Well, guess again.

■ Richard N. Winfield, a leading First Amendment lawyer who championed freedom of expression for journalists, has died at 91.

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First alert / Speech-less / Job review

First alert. Ramping up his campaign rhetoric, former president Donald Trump has developed a tendency to claim that speech he disapproves of is illegal, even if it is protected by the First Amendment.
■ FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel condemned Donald Trump’s call for CBS to have local broadcast licenses pulled, labeling it a threat against free speech.
■ California’s new law cracking down on election deepfakes was blocked by a federal judge who ruled it likely violates the First Amendment.
■ Elon Musk’s pro-Trump America PAC has offered $47 to people who can successfully get a swing-state voter to sign a petition supporting constitutional amendments.

Air concerns. Florida’s health department threatened to prosecute two local television stations for airing ads about the state’s abortion law.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Elon Musk’s X Corp. over claims that special counsel Jack Smith violated the First Amendment in obtaining messages from Donald Trump.
■ Supreme Court justices without comment declined to hear several First Amendment-related appeals.
■ A Texas book ban has prevented prisoners from reading a collection of their own letters.

Speech-less. Students say campus speech has been chilled a year into the Israel-Hamas war.
■ The revoking of “Oct. 7” license plates by the Illinois secretary of state prompted a debate about protected speech.
■ A federal judge rejected an order to allow New Hampshire parents to wear pink wristbands at a high school soccer game to protest a transgender girl playing in a match.
■ A second lawsuit against a Denver-area baker that pitted LGBTQ+ civil rights against First Amendment rights was dismissed by the Colorado Supreme Court.

Solemnly swear? Using history alone to define First Amendment freedoms is a very bad idea, contended a pair of law professors in a New York Times guest editorial.
■ Internal communications at TikTok describe a company unconcerned with the harms its app posed for teens.
■ A Georgetown University technology law professor examined whether childproofing the internet is constitutional.

■ After the hurricane devastation, tackling the lies, misinformation, and hoaxes is taking time away from recovery efforts.

Job review. Besmirched “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil delivered good journalism and gripping television, argued associate editor Ruth Marcus in a Washington Post commentary.
■ The editor of the controversial Scoop Nashville, who relied on public records and internet rumor to produce often-sensational stories, has died at 44. 

■ A shield law for reporters is vital against abuses of power, contended the editorial board of The New York Times.
■ Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre has lost in federal appeals court his defamation suit brought against Shannon Sharpe, a former NFL star turned commentator.

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Section off? / Conduct code / WhatsNews

Section off? The Freedom of the Press Foundation has examined how a federal appeals court used the First Amendment to undermine a law meant to protect free speech.
■ Perhaps Americans do have a better understanding of the First Amendment, two recent studies show.
■ Analysis: A hometown jury hands Boise State University a resounding rebuke.

Thought for food. A federal judge has served up a ruling that reinforced food-delivery app companies’ claim that a 2021 New York City data-sharing law is unconstitutional.
■ As artists continue to object to their songs being used at political events, it is not the First Amendment that governs their use, explained Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.

■ The impact of book bans hits hardest on the U.S. prison population, activists declare.
■ Banned Books Week was launched with mixed reports on the number of challenges to books stocked and the pulling of titles from library shelves.
■ A California district attorney has charged 10 protesters for failing to leave the UC Irvine campus when police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment in May.

Conduct code. A federal judge has blocked an 1895 San Diego law that bans offensive and disorderly conduct in public places after a First Amendment legal challenge.
■ A Virginia law that prohibits inmates from encouraging other inmates to participate in demonstrations or work stoppages does not violate the First Amendments, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.
■ A new Tennessee law that makes it a felony to transport a minor without parental consent to an abortion appointment out of state was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
■ Newsmax has settled its defamation lawsuit brought by voting-technology company Smartmatic over 2020 false election claims.
■ Citing an attempt to have his free-speech rights curtailed, an Oklahoma historian being sued for defamation by a Pennsylvania legislator seeks to have the suit dismissed.

Fakes crackdown gets real. California’s tough laws on AI deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election face a pair of court challenges to their constitutionality.
■ Russia’s state-owned broadcast network, RT, has moved beyond propaganda to covertly destabilize democracies, declared U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
■ An Indiana law to create a 25-foot buffer zone around law enforcement officers responding to certain activities was blocked by a U.S. district judge.

WhatsNews. To help draw traffic to online news sites, some digital news publications are turning to WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app.
■ Penn State University administrators removed racks stocked with the college newspaper and sparked a free-speech debate.
■ A letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to generate opposition to a bill that threatens nonprofit news outlets.
■ As an American and a Christian, a Southern California pastor declared freedom of religion to be central to the meaning of democracy in a recent commentary.

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Pet peeve / Epic fail / Oh, nyet!

Pet peeve. Pointing out right-wing lies and outlandish claims is necessary journalism, but the weaponization of misinformation calls for media to do more, contended Parker Molloy in the New Republic.
■ The Springfield, Ohio, woman whose social media post that sparked baseless rumors about Haitians eating pets told NBC News that she regrets spreading misinformation online.
■ Brazil’s ban on Elon Musk’s X has moved supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro to take to the streets in a free-speech protest.
■ A federal judge in South Carolina has rejected an ACLU lawsuit trying to overturn the state prison system’s ban of on-camera, in-person interviews with inmates.

Epic fail. Few Americans can name even three First Amendment rights, and two-thirds cannot list the three branches of government, a latest Annenberg civics survey has revealed.
■ The First Amendment battle over the U.S. effort to ban or rein in TikTok began today as a three-judge panel examines whether government action is constitutional.
■ A new Utah law that would require social media companies to verify the ages of their users has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
■ The yard signs decrying hate and racism posted by Jewish family members after a neighbor hurled an antisemitic slur at them were protected free speech, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.

FIRE alarms. The more elite the college, the more chilled its on-campus environment for open discourse, suggested Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), in a New York Post commentary.
■ University of Virginia students expressed disbelief over FIRE’s survey that labeled their school tops in the nation for free speech and open inquiry.
■ A Florida school district must reshelve books containing LGBTQ+ content as part of a settlement reached between parents and the school board.
■ A Michigan State University law professor has tackled the question: Can public schools stop students from praying?

■ A federal judge in Michigan has upheld a public school’s ban on wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts.

Oh, nyet! Right-wing influencers worked unknowingly for a Tennessee-based content-creation company that served as a front for a Russian media influence operation, U.S. prosecutors said.
■ Even news outlets perceived to be politically neutral can profit in the current polarized media environment, but a George Mason professor has argued that doing so may be bad for democracy.
■ The future of Fox News likely will be determined when media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his children face off in court.
■ Where have all the First Amendment absolutists gone? Constitutional scholar Ronald K.L. Collins can answer that.

Sky files. A North Carolina drone reporter has filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to acknowledge that providing clients with data and images from aerial photography is protected speech.
■ The state of Tennessee has been getting away with delaying access to public records, declared Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, and a partner to the Free Speech Center.
■ Former BBC news presenter Huw Edwards has been given a suspended sentence for accessing indecent images of children.

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Free love / Pronouncement / Plugged leak

Free love. Americans love free speech until they realize opponents have it as well, a Vanderbilt University survey has found.
■ One key provision in California’s online safety law violates the First Amendment, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
■ A Republican state senator from Chattanooga is set to appeal a public-records ruling that kept a school shooter’s writings from being released.
■ After a long free-speech battle, a conservative California professor is awarded a $2.4 million settlement.

Back to school. Colleges across the country have revised campus-speech rules while bracing for a resurgence in activism as students return.
■ Constitutional scholar John R. Vile has offered a closer look at a ruling protecting Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian campus protests.

■ Nashville’s mayor has announced legislation aimed at protecting First Amendment rights while boosting public safety.

■ The Arkansas Supreme Court continued to reject signed petitions for an abortion-rights ballot initiative.

Pronouncement. A Wisconsin teacher has claimed in a discrimination lawsuit that his refusal to use preferred names of two transgender students led to his contract not being renewed.
■ A group of pastors sent an email to a Texas school district superintendent asking for the removal from school libraries of 676 books that they deemed “filthy and evil.” 
■ A Kansas school principal who helped hand out Bibles to students violated the First Amendment, the ACLU has claimed.
■ An Oklahoma board has officially voided a contract with what would have been the state’s first Catholic charter school.

Access point. A law that shields technology companies from liability is now being used against them in a unique lawsuit, The New York Times reported.
■ Meta has halted its CrowdTangle tool used to fight disinformation despite more than 50,000 requests to keep it active.
■ Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, a messaging app with 900 million users, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform.

■ The state of California announced it will commit $250 million to work with tech companies to help fund journalism and artificial-intelligence research.
■ X has become a haven for the type of free speech Elon Musk has come to champion – his right-wing political views.

Plugged leak. News outlets were leaked confidential material from the Donald Trump campaign but chose not to publish it, reported David Bauder of the Associated Press.
■ Three journalists were among the more than 70 people arrested outside last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
■ Preeminent First Amendment attorney Bruce Johnson has died after a short battle with ALS.

■ The last 12 months has been a hazardous time for First Amendment rights with the impact of social media commanding most of the headlines.
■ President Biden has called on Syria for the immediate release of another U.S. journalist.

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Climbing on Walz / Oh, hell / Shredded

Climbing on Walz. While media coverage of Tim Walz has been “fawning thus far,” it should be noted that the vice-presidential candidate was wrong about misinformation and free speech, concluded Robby Soave, a Reason senior editor.

■ College students embrace campus speech but are concerned about how others use that right, a Knight Foundation-Ipsos study has found.
■ Think you know what freedom of speech means? Test your knowledge with an NPR history quiz.

Stripped of their titles. Under a new law, Utah has become the first state to implement a statewide prohibition of 13 books from all public-school libraries and classrooms.

■ Author mocks state ban of her book with a social media threat to “hit Utah with my cane.”
■ A Chicago-based policy institute has sued the Illinois Department of Labor claiming a new state law, Worker Freedom of Speech Act, violates employers’ First Amendment rights.
■ Louisiana became the latest state to establish a police-buffer law to limit the distance journalists must maintain when covering police actions.

Oh, hell. Boston’s city council did not discriminate against the Satanic Temple when it rejected the group’s offer to give an invocation before a public meeting, a Massachusetts appeals court has ruled.
■ A U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judicial panel rejected a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio school’s transgender student pronoun policy.
■ The Securities and Exchange Commission’s “gag rule” is a violation of the First Amendment and hinders the work of journalists, argued Seth Stern, a freedom of the press advocate.

Parroting parody. X’s Elon Musk made a Kamala Harris deepfake ad go viral when he reposted it, sparking a debate about parody and free speech.
■ Mark Cuban, the “Shark Tank” star and business magnate, challenged Musk on his suppression and amplification of posted “truths.”

■ Social media companies say they have First Amendment rights that protect their speech.

■ Susan Wojcicki, a Silicon Valley visionary who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died at 56.

Shredded. A year after the raid on a Marion County newspaper, Kansas officials still do not care about constitutional freedoms, declared the opinion editor of the Kansas Reflector.
■ Prosecutors in Topeka announced they will charge the former police chief involved in a raid on the Marion County Record with obstruction of justice.
■ A New York City journalist who documented pro-Palestinian vandalism by protesters has been arrested on felony hate-crime charges.
■ University of New Mexico police have dismissed charges against two journalists who were arrested during a sweep of a protest encampment in May.

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Threat Tok / Eagle soars / Shalt not yet

Threat Tok. The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to uphold the potential ban on TikTok, arguing that the social media app is a “serious national-security threat.”
■ A federal judge has permanently shut down a significant piece of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act citing First Amendment violations pertaining to free speech.
■ Texas State has changed its campus free-speech policy as a way of defining antisemitism while complying with a mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott.
■ Former President Donald Trump’s vow to criminalize flag-burning is un-American, explained a scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in an MSNBC opinion piece. 
■ An appeals case has raised the question: How much freedom of speech does a first-grade student have? Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, offered his perspective.

Cost of winning. The Denver-area web designer who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling following her refusal to provide services for same-sex couples has asked a Colorado judge to award her $2 million to cover legal fees.
■ Elon Musk shared a manipulated video of Vice President Kamala Harris that is raising concerns about AI in politics.
■ A federal appeals court has dismissed a challenge to a Tennessee law that restricts public drag shows.
■ Employees are now banned from posting political statements on college website home pages after a vote by the University of California Board of Regents.
■ The Associated Press examined questions about the Kids Online Safety Act, including whether it can pass, and whether it violates the First Amendment.

Eagle soars. When the nation’s biggest news story came to the small town of Butler, Pa., its local newspaper’s staff rose to the occasion.
■ Rupert Murdoch’s children are fighting a secret battle for the future of his media empire.
■ Donald Trump’s libel lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board can continue, a Florida state judge has ruled.
■ Fox News is “pleased” with a judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation suit brought by the head of the now-dissolved Disinformation Governance Board.
■ Journalists have continued to utilize the free legal hotline of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press when policymakers make veiled threats or block access to information.

Latest chapter. A new book-ban legal battle in Florida has both the prosecutors and the plaintiffs using protections of the First Amendment to make their cases.
■ NBC News has documented one law enforcement officer’s crusade to bring charges against school librarians in Texas over books he deemed obscene.
■ A new book has prompted an investigation into three unsolved Civil Rights-era bombings in Nashville.
■ A Massachusetts dad who recorded school officials and subsequently posted the interactions online has won his First Amendment appeal.

Shalt not yet. Louisiana public schools cannot display the Ten Commandments while the controversial new law to post them is being challenged in court, a U.S. district judge has ruled.
■ Constitutional scholar John R. Vile discussed First Amendment implications of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments mandate in public schools during an interview with the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
■ Memphis Shelby County Schools will pay more than $15,000 to settle a suit with The Satanic Temple over potential First Amendment violations pertaining to its After School Satan Club.
■ A small town in Colorado has a protected right to provide shelter to unhoused people on church property, a federal judge has decreed.

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Firestarter / Lawn dart / Devilish act?

Firestarter. The assassination attempt on former President Trump showed that America is playing with fire and social media hold the matchbooks, asserted Axios co-founders in a commentary.
■ Minutes after the Trump rally shooting, misinformation ran rampant. Here are the facts.

■ Seventh and eighth graders shook up their Pennsylvania school after creating fake TikTok accounts impersonating their teachers with lewd, disparaging videos.
■ A Massachusetts teacher fired for posting controversial TikTok videos in 2021 has lost her First Amendment federal appeals case.

Lawn dart. Folks in a Memphis suburb may not have liked one woman’s “vulgar” political yard sign, but a federal judge has ruled that she had a constitutional right to display it.
■ The ACLU has unveiled a plan to fight any free-speech abuses that Donald Trump is threatening to conduct if he is elected again to the presidency.
■ “Freedom of Speech,” a 1943 painting by Norman Rockwell, has taken on a new life as a social-media meme.

■ Middle Tennessee State University earned a top rating for campus free speech from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
■ Rapper released from prison must submit any new lyrics to federal officials who contend they may be “inconsistent with the goals of rehabilitation.”

AI exam. Despite their misleading nature, deepfakes are protected under the First Amendment as a form of free expression, explained Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
■ Early Apple tech bloggers have noticed years-old content, aided by AI-generated photos and bios, reappearing on a resurrected domain that was shut down in 2015.
■ A federal judge in Baltimore has thrown out a First Amendment challenge to the law that imposes a tax on internet ads in Maryland.
■ A U.S. Supreme Court ruling may bolster a First Amendment case for convicted North Carolina journalists.

Devilish act? After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to allow religious chaplains in public schools, state Satanists volunteered to fill those roles amid staffing shortages.
■ Thousands have signed a petition rejecting a state superintendent’s rule requiring the Bible to be taught in Oklahoma public schools.
■ The writings of a Nashville school shooter cannot be released since victims’ families hold the copyright, a judge ruled.
■ NPR is fighting for access to secret Virginia execution recordings and hoping to get a boost from the state Court of Appeals.

Wu-rrisome. Timothy Wu’s column in The New York Times declaring that the First Amendment is “out of control” is a stark reminder that self-interest overrises toleration, contended FIRE’s Ronald K.L. Collins.

■ Activist groups have sued the city of Chicago alleging that the rejection of specific marching permits during the Democratic National Convention is a violation of free speech.

■ New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to ban masks on the subway has sparked backlash from civil liberties groups.
■ America’s best-known sex counselor, Ruth Westheimer, who said things on radio and television that approached being censored, has died at age 96.

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Free to moderate / Oh, zone / Thou shall?

Free to moderate. The U.S. Supreme Court sent cases alleging that Florida and Texas social media laws violate the First Amendment back to lower courts for review, but the decision reaffirmed the First Amendment right of private companies to moderate content.
■ Supreme Court justices rejected a claim that the Biden administration coerced social media companies to remove contentious content.

■ A bill to safeguard kids from potentially addictive social media feeds was signed by New York’s governor.

■ Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit on behalf of a man who gave a state trooper the middle finger during a traffic stop.

Withdrawal reflex. Following a poor debate performance, many U.S. media heavyweights have called on President Joe Biden to quit his reelection bid.
■ The U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes is fighting to maintain its independence and defend its First Amendment rights by getting outdated restrictions removed.
■ A New York Times analysis tracked Julian Assange’s polarizing legacy from hacker to hunted.

■ The takeaway from the U.S. Office for Civil Rights anti-harassment mandate to universities is it could prompt administrators to violate the First Amendment, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) reported.

Oh, zone. The plan for designated protest zones for Milwaukee’s upcoming Republican National Convention violates the First Amendment, an ACLU lawsuit contends.
■ The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that an order barring an anti-abortion protester from being close to a Planned Parenthood nurse violated free-speech rights and must be overturned.

■ Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-riot law is no threat to peaceful protesters, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled.

■ Press-freedom groups want criminal charges dropped against a Stanford University student journalist arrested while covering a campus protest.

Chalk talks. A federal court jury has awarded $700,000 to Seattle demonstrators who wrote anti-police graffiti in chalk on a police barricade and were subsequently jailed.
■ Racial-justice groups have joined a legal filing condemning a potential TikTok ban that they say would suppress speech from minority communities.

■ Apple and Meta officials have discussed a potential AI partnership, the Wall Street Journal reported.
■ The OpenAI co-founder who helped oust Sam Altman has a new start-up that aims to produce Safe Superintelligence.

Thou shall? Belief in the Ten Commandments is strong among many American Christians and Jews but the version of them required by the Louisiana governor to hang in public schools is not.
■ Oklahoma’s plan to use public funds for a religious charter school is unconstitutional, the state’s supreme court has ruled.
■ Pride month and the First Amendment should both be celebrated, explained the editorial board of the Everett (Wash.) Daily Herald.
■ Calling himself a whistleblower, a Texas doctor is accused of taking private transgender documents and sharing them with an activist who then published a story with the confidential information.

■ In Tennessee’s Davidson County, criminal judges are sealing documents and not leaving a public record, the Nashville Banner reported.

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Shape shifts / Book circle / Last laughs?

Shape shifts. A series of federal court cases could change the way the First Amendment functions in the internet era, explained David McCabe in The New York Times.
■ The U.S. Surgeon General has called for warning labels on social media apps he said might damage the mental health of adolescents.

■ A Vanderbilt University law professor has analyzed whether laws restricting speech on race and racism in public schools violate the First Amendment.

■ Alex Jones must liquidate his personal assets to pay for damages assessed in the Sandy Hook conspiracy suit, a federal judge has ruled, but the future of his Infowars platform is uncertain.

■ The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected a California lawyer’s attempt to trademark “Trump Too Small.”

Into the void. Partisan-backed outlets intentionally masquerading as local news sites are now outpacing real local daily newspapers, Axios reported.
■ News/Media Alliance is the latest press-rights organization to join the push for PRESS Act passage.

■ The chair of the House Oversight Committee announced he is launching a probe into the validity of the news-rating system NewsGuard.

■ The publisher and incoming editor of The Washington Post reportedly used fraudulently obtained records in news articles published in London.

■ The NYPD must release misconduct records to a news outlet that requested them two years ago, a New York Supreme Court justice ruled.

Book circle. An author reflected on the irony that his “Ban This Book” book has been banned by a Florida school district in a CBS News interview.
■ The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that the state cannot authorize local school districts to remove books from library shelves.
■ A media organization will have to present details in a court hearing about The Covenant School shooting records that were leaked even as it continues its lawsuit to make those records public.

■ A Massachusetts middle school that required a student to stop wearing an “only two genders” shirt did not violate free-speech rights, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

MS stakes. The playbook for dismantling a free press in America is wide open in Mississippi, declared editor Adam Ganucheau in a New York Times opinion piece.
■ As many newspapers struggle for survival, journalism behind bars has continued to grow, with one paper publishing continuously since 1887.
■ After spending a year in jail, U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich will stand trial in Russia, accused of doing CIA work.
■ The future of The Epoch Times is uncertain following the arrest of an executive in a money-laundering investigation.

■ Howard Fineman, who lost his battle with cancer at 75, is remembered as a witty, encyclopedic political reporter.

Last laughs? First Amendment scholar Ronald K. L. Collins has examined the art of comedy in the era of cancel culture for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
■ Elon Musk has asked a California court to withdraw his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.
■ NewsBreak, the most downloaded U.S. news app with roots in China, writes “fiction” using AI, according to a Reuters report.

■ Soothsaying is protected speech again in Virginia even though psychic mediums were in violation of a 45-year-old law.

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