UnPresidented / Bake free? / Anti- matter

UnPresidented. Free-speech group FIRE acknowledged it plans to be busy over the next four years working to defend against the unprecedented actions, rhetoric, and “unrelenting attacks” on the First Amendment.
■ Longtime First Amendment lawyer James Goodale, in a Newsweek interview, called on the press to stand up to assaults by President Trump.
■ The White House told news organizations they would be barred from presidential events if they refused to use President Trump’s new Gulf of America label for the Gulf of Mexico.

■ Days later an Associated Press credentialed reporter and photographer were excluded from a presidential plane over the news agency’s stance on a Gulf of Mexico reference.

Takin’ it to the streets. The Presidents Day holiday transformed into a day of protests in all 50 states to condemn what organizers call “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.”
■ Demonstrations are planned at several Tesla facilities to condemn the influence Elon Musk has over the government and its various agencies.
■ A Nashville fire captain who was demoted for Facebook posts criticizing Black Lives Matter protesters, was awarded almost $1.8 million from a federal jury in his First Amendment lawsuit.
■ Seattle approved protest-related legislation that would give police fewer restrictions on the use of “less lethal” weapons to disperse crowds.

Bake free? A federal judge is set to rule on a long-standing free-speech dispute over a New Hampshire bakery’s mural of sweet treats.
■ Casino mogul Steve Wynn has indirectly asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit libel protections for journalists by appealing his failed defamation case.
■ Despite recent attacks on freedom of the press, Northeastern University law professor Dan Kennedy contended in a commentary that the Times v. Sullivan decision and the libel protections it established appear to be safe.
■ An Arizona judge will consider the free-speech defense of “fake electors” from 2020 who are seeking to have criminal charges dismissed.

Failure to succeed. Thousands of pages of document from Rupert Murdoch’s messy court battle revealed the “hole in the family” that threatens his empire.
■ TikTok has found its way back to Google and Apple app stores after enforcement of its U.S. ban was delayed by President Trump.

■ CNN’s Kaitlan Collins defended herself from intense conservative criticism over a news item she posted on X showing that accused killer Luigi Mangione's legal defense team had a new website.

■ Trump Media stock dipped after the company reported 2024 losses of $400 million.
■ Government watchdog groups said they would challenge a Trump declaration that allows DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) to skirt open-record laws.

Anti- matter. Critics have called President Trump’s new task force for eliminating anti-Christian bias unnecessary, nothing more than an opportunity to pander to his base of supporters.
■ A policy that allows immigration agents leeway to make arrests in churches and other places of worship is being challenged by religious groups in federal court.
■ A North Dakota religion-based school bill could test the limits of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

■ Promoting a particular mode of worship on schoolchildren is not the job of government. It is the job of parents, propounded Will Mortensen, a republican South Dakota legislator.

■ Book publishers are among those that have challenged an Idaho law that forces libraries to place some books in an adults-only section that are deemed “harmful to minors.”

Continue reading →

Eviction swap / Side effect / Indie power

Eviction swap. At President Donald Trump’s request, the Pentagon removed four mainstream news organizations from its dedicated media office spaces.
■ Trump continued to slam news outlets on social media as they struggle with lawsuits and layoffs.
■ Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Elon Musk’s X platform while defending his decision to remove third-party fact-checkers on his sites.
■ Through litigation and retaliation, the nation’s rich and powerful are waging a vicious campaign against First Amendment freedoms, declared Andy Craig in an MSNBC commentary.

■ OpenAI has released a tool that can gather information from across the internet and create thumbnail reports.

Side effect. Any pathway for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to ban drug advertising on television has a big roadblock: The First Amendment.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review an Oklahoma decision to allow the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school.
■ A new Tennessee bill would keep records of state immigration enforcement largely confidential and hidden from the public.

■ An environmental activist in Louisiana did not have her free-speech rights violated during a public meeting, a civil jury has ruled.
■ Pro-Palestinian protesters may have their education visas canceled after President Trump signed an executive order to deport non-citizen college students who took part.

Censor or savor? Old debates about obscenity have been revived after photographs by renowned artist Sally Mann were pulled from a Texas museum exhibit.
■ Free-speech organizations were up in arms over a Department of Education announcement declaring book bans a “hoax.”
■ Local-news mapping being done by researchers, academics, and journalists, shows where outlets are thriving and where information gaps persist, The Conversation reported.
■ New FCC chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation concerning the federal funding of NPR and the Public Broadcasting System.
■ A University of Tennessee graduate, once threatened with expulsion, was awarded a $250,000 settlement in her First Amendment lawsuit over racy posts on social media that she argued were protected speech.

Indie power. From her Brooklyn apartment, an independent journalist scooped major news outlets with the Trump federal spending-freeze story, hinting at what future news gathering might look like.
■ Chuck Todd, longtime fixture on NBC and former host of “Meet the Press,” has quit the network.
■ CBS News has agreed to turn over unedited Kamala Harris interview transcripts to the Federal Communication Commission.
■ Journalist Dan Rather, on his Substack page “Steady,” shared his heartbreak for CBS News while he urged readers to take back a free press and return its public trust.
■ One conservative media outlet, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, notably has been critical of Donald Trump on its editorial pages.

Continue reading →

Do without? / Prep steps / Hard-pressed

Do without? TikTok’s cultural footprint in the United States is huge but will anyone miss it if it goes away?
■ How did President Donald Trump go from condemning TikTok to becoming its savior?
■ Mark Zuckerberg is ready to remake Meta for the new Trump era by going “back to” the future.
■ In a parting shot, the outgoing chair of the Federal Communications Commission said her agency must “take a stand on behalf of the First Amendment.”
■ CNN’s defamation trial has come at a rough time for the struggling network.

Smut scrutiny. As U.S. Supreme Court justices consider tightening obscenity laws, their forebears offer reasons why they should not.
■ As a Texas porn site age-verification law goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, a similar Tennessee law is allowed to take effect.
■ The Supreme Court allowed a Hawaii lawsuit over a decades-long misinformation campaign by the fossil-fuel industry to proceed to trial.
■ Justices are set to hear a Maryland religious-freedom case over whether parents of elementary schoolchildren can opt out of instruction on gender and sexuality.

Prep steps. News outlets are making preparations to shield themselves against an anticipated political and legal onslaught from the new Trump administration.
■ The Nation’s Elie Mystal asserted in a commentary that the media is giving away its rights even before Trump tries to take them.
■ Trump believers put faith in Trump Media too, buying shares of the social media and streaming company.
■ The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving the state attorney general’s attempt to close a Catholic-run migrant shelter in El Paso.
■ Authors compellingly dissect the roots of Christian nationalism in a new book, asserted John R. Vile, dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University.

Follow the data. News organizations have taken OpenAI to court, arguing that the tech company’s ChatGPT platform uses copyrighted works without consent or payment.
■ Free-speech organization FIRE vowed to find options to block DEI initiatives that West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey banned shortly after being sworn in.
■ Instead of taking them down, one Tennessee woman is taking her defense of her supersized decorated holiday skeletons to court.

Hard-pressed. Joe Biden warned Americans in his farewell address about the “crumbling” free press, but freelancer Jon Allsop in the Columbia Journalism Review asks why he did not do something about it as president.
■ More than 400 journalists at The Washington Post sent a petition asking the news outlet’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, to make changes.
■ Meteorologists at local TV news stations face uncertain futures if a new initiative by The Weather Channel is launched.
■ Veteran journalist Elizabeth Nissen, co-founder of NBC Learn, has died.

Continue reading →

Ban stand / Media blitzkrieg / Low anxiety

Ban stand. So, what happens if the United States bans TikTok? The Independent has provided some scenarios.
■ In a legal filing, the Justice Department argued that the U.S. TikTok law does not violate First Amendment rights.
■ Free-speech advocates let the U.S. Supreme Court know that the TikTok law would restrict Americans from accessing foreign media and is reminiscent of repressive governments.
■ After two decades of legal wrangling, a federal appeals court has struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules.

■ The Walt Disney Co. has secured a deal that may clear the way for the launch of a sports streaming venture.

Protecting whom? In a U.S. Supreme Court pornography case, Texas lawmakers ask justices to abandon First Amendment protections for sexual speech.
■ A federal judge has blocked a Tennessee age-verification law that targeted websites containing content deemed “harmful to minors.”
■ Publishers and authors argued that library books are not “government speech” as Florida lawmakers contend and therefore are protected by the First Amendment.
■ A Tennessee lawmaker has filed a bill to allow the Ten Commandments, along with other historical texts, to be displayed in state public schools.

■ A Washington Post editorial cartoonist quit after her satirical cartoon about media and tech giants swearing allegiance to Donald Trump was killed before publication.

Media blitzkrieg. Lawsuits show that the history of American media means little to President-elect Donald Trump, an analysis in Mississippi Today contends.
■ Living in an age where many people believe things that are not true creates a threat to democracy, examined journalist John Carpenter in an analysis.
■ It matters that Tennessee has refused to release its new execution manual, the Associated Press reported.
■ Minneapolis has softened a law that prohibited the obstruction of entrances to abortion clinics in response to a free-speech challenge.

Squash game. Social media companies face a global tug-of-war over online censorship.
■ Brendan Carr, nominee for Federal Communications Commission chair, has supported the controversial view that social media companies should not be permitted to censor postings.

■ Buried in a last-minute omnibus bill is an Ohio state law that allows police departments to charge fees for access to dashboard and body-camera footage.
■ Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed part of a medical free-speech bill that he said would “totally gut” the state’s ability to regulate misconduct.

Low anxiety. Ratings are down and uncertainties are up at CNN as the news network navigates its future.
■ The return of Donald Trump to the White House likely means the return of renewed hostility toward journalists.
■ A Pacific-Islander reporter was assaulted by a man who allegedly declared, “this is Trump’s America now.”
■ Readers responded ‘yes’ when asked if their local Colorado newspaper was worth saving.
■ Aaron Brown, the former CNN anchor who helped viewers through the 9/11 attacks, has died.

Continue reading →

TikTok clocked / Free wave / Silent night

TikTok clocked. A U.S. ban on TikTok could happen next month after a federal appeals court upheld a law requiring the social media platform to break ties with China-based parent company ByteDance.
■ Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Communications Commission poses a threat to free speech, a commentary in The Hill argued.
■ Canadian news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI, alleging its ChatGPT software is “strip-mining journalism.”
■ The rise of artificial intelligence has generated a new question: Are deepfakes protected by the First Amendment?

Crushed it. A Salon commentary asserted that Congress is largely responsible for press freedom’s downward spiral in 2024.
■ President-elect Donald Trump’s call for a pollster investigation puts the First Amendment at risk, claimed David Voldzko of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
■ Lawmakers have introduced an anti-SLAPP act allowing federal judges to quickly dismiss lawsuits that target free speech.
■ A documentary film on the First Amendment wins an Anthem Award for the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Free wave. The wave of hateful texts and emails that targeted minorities after the presidential election are being investigated but likely were protected free speech, opined a Miami University professor.
■ Protected speech is at the heart of Idaho’s abortion trafficking law, which was given partial enforcement permission by a federal appeals court.
■ A Jan. 6 participant, who said he received death threats after a “60 Minutes” interview, had his defamation lawsuit dismissed by a federal judge.

Proper form? A New Jersey township council’s decision to bar people from using props, including U.S. flags and pocket Constitutions, has drawn criticism from free-speech advocates.
■ A federal judge is set to hear arguments challenging Louisiana’s police buffer law that targets reporters.
■ News groups in Idaho have sued the state’s top prison official to have increased access to lethal-injection executions, contending the public has a First Amendment right to witness the process.
■ Tennessee and Texas organizations that solicit donations to aid Israeli settlers in the West Bank have put a spotlight on the First Amendment rights of nonprofits.

Silent night. Author Stephen King’s raucous rock radio stations in Maine will sign off on New Year’s Eve.
■ Workers at London’s oldest Sunday newspaper staged an open revolt after the sale to a start-up company was approved.
■ A reporter for Mother Jones got an inside look at the fall of the Scripps News national television platform.
■ The Biden administration said it believed that journalist Austin Tice, missing since 2012, is alive and has vowed to “get him back.”

Continue reading →

Feeling blue / Maybe later /'Kill' bill

Feeling blue. In a post-election uptick, millions of disgruntled X users, including journalists and left-leaning politicians, have flocked to Bluesky, a social media platform that resembles the original Twitter service. Among new content providers: The Free Speech Center.

■ A fifth of Americans get their news from social media influencers, most of whom don’t abide by professional editorial standards, according to a new Pew Research Center report.
■ Some 11th-hour court filings have created chaos in The Onion’s bid to acquire Alex Jones’ conspiratorial website Infowars.

■ State laws that target AI-generated media deepfakes have raised serious First Amendment concerns.

Maybe later. Many people disappointed in the results of this last election have tuned out the news media and tuned in to their mental health, The Washington Post reported.
■ Working to reduce its workforce, The Associated Press notified employees that layoffs and buyouts are forthcoming.
■ Saying it is positioning itself for growth in the streaming era, Comcast announced it was spinning off its cable TV networks, which includes MSNBC.
■ Chuck Woolery, the well-known television game-show host turned right-wing podcaster, has died. 

Shaky book case. Florida government has again made a legal argument that book removals in public schools are ‘government speech,’ and therefore protected by the First Amendment.
■ More than 100 books have been pulled from the library shelves of Florida schools, according to a list compiled by the state’s Department of Education.

■ A Tennessee librarian recalled the pulling of 150 book titles as ‘literally heartbreaking.’

‘Kill’ bill. President-elect Donald Trump has directed congressional Republicans to block passage of the reporter shield bill known as the PRESS Act.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a Jan. 6 defendant who claimed that a law banning picketing or demonstrating at the U.S. Capitol was a First Amendment violation.

■ Supreme Court justices will not hear a legal challenge to a federal requirement that cigarette packaging include graphic images showing the effects of smoking.

Old-time religion? Elementary schools in Texas will be allowed to teach Bible-infused lessons in classrooms after the state’s board of education voted to approve the curriculum.
■ Oklahoma has established an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism at the state’s Department of Education.
■ Court rulings have temporarily blocked a Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms as appeals persist.

■ Opponents have called the use of taxpayer money for Christian schools in Ohio unconstitutional.

Continue reading →

Legal age / Alarm set / 'Garbage' strike

Legal age. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving age verification on websites providing material potentially harmful to minors.

■ As exposure to social media has shown to be isolating for some young people, Middle Tennessee State University professor and dean John R. Vile does a deep dive into the Kids Online Safety Act.

■ Elon Musk’s social media company X marks its spot on the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

■ The police department in Philadelphia did not violate the First Amendment rights of officers who were fired or suspended for racist or violent social-media posts, a U.S. district judge ruled.

Seemed like old times. Despite concerns about a potentially tumultuous and lengthy ballot-counting process, news outlets experienced traditional election night coverage.
■ A legal showdown looms after Maine voters approved a referendum to limit PAC donations.

■ A former Denver elections worker has filed a lawsuit alleging that her firing for speaking out about safety concerns on television, violating her First Amendment rights.
■ Gannett’s presidential endorsement ban was a gag order on local journalism and an abandonment of the company’s longtime commitment to local newsroom autonomy, maintained Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and a former Gannett editor.
■ A federal judge has rejected a gag-order request from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team in the entertainer’s sex-trafficking case.

Alarm set. Donald Trump’s threats on the news media have press-freedom groups sounding the alarm on potential dangers journalists may face after Inauguration Day.

■ NBC News examined if or when freedom of speech can cross the line into breaking anti-terrorism laws.
■ In his new book, a Texas law professor makes a solid case for classifying academic freedom as a subset of First Amendment rights.

■ The history of U.S. blasphemy laws reflects a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speech, asserted a University of South Dakota scholar.

‘Garbage’ strike. White House press officials reportedly altered an official transcript of something President Joe Biden said that appeared to take a swipe at Donald Trump supporters.
■ Here’s how President Biden became a photojournalist and a TikTok influencer after being gifted a camera.

■ Media giants are testing First Amendment defenses in court to escape claims of workplace discrimination.

■ College administrations across the country need to respect and protect the right to protest in support of Palestinian rights, the ACLU and human-rights groups urged in an open letter.
■ The Knight First Amendment Institute has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to obtain a document that provides written guidance on Title VI obligations regarding discrimination on college campuses.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →