Hard knocks. Outrage over reporters who visited a police officer’s home for comment showed the LAPD’s ignorance of a free press, declared First Amendment experts, including Ken Paulson, director of The Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, in a Los Angeles Times news analysis.
■ The White House has threatened to revoke a reporter’s press pass if he does not refrain from loud interruptions during briefings.
■ Community donations have helped South Carolina newspapers boost statewide investigative reporting.■ BBC News is aggressively working to popularize open-source reporting methods, signaling a potential shift in journalism’s embrace of new technology.
Loose ends. Owner and CEO Elon Musk tweeted about a 50 percent drop in ad revenue as new competitor Threads loops in 100 million users.
■ Meta has banked on minimizing news and politics with Threads to draw app users away from Twitter.
■ George Santos has been sued by a Montana man who said his free-speech rights were violated when he was blocked from posting comments on the besieged GOP congressman’s Twitter account.
■ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others have been sued by a First Amendment group over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices.
Social cues. The ruling to have the federal government refrain from contacting social media companies is unusual for several reasons, explained the director of The Free Speech Center.
■ An appeals court has temporarily paused the ruling that barred the Biden administration from pressuring communications with social media companies.
■ Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, argued in a Los Angeles Times commentary that banning government officials from talking to Big Tech is not a win for free speech.
Power tool? Former federal prosecutor Ben Clements has contended that the U.S. Supreme Court has turned the First Amendment into a tool of discrimination.
■ The Supreme Court is “an institution of law, not of politics,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh told a judicial conference audience, working to dispel notions that it is partisan.
■ A Colorado web designer’s free-speech victory in the Supreme Court is a win for everyone, wrote a pair of individual-rights professionals in a Bloomberg News essay.
■ Supreme Court justices reaffirmed key protections against retaliatory defamation claims in the Counterman v. Colorado case.
■ George Santos has been sued by a Montana man who said his free-speech rights were violated when he was blocked from posting comments on the besieged GOP congressman’s Twitter account.
■ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others have been sued by a First Amendment group over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices.
Social cues. The ruling to have the federal government refrain from contacting social media companies is unusual for several reasons, explained the director of The Free Speech Center.
■ An appeals court has temporarily paused the ruling that barred the Biden administration from pressuring communications with social media companies.
■ Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, argued in a Los Angeles Times commentary that banning government officials from talking to Big Tech is not a win for free speech.
Power tool? Former federal prosecutor Ben Clements has contended that the U.S. Supreme Court has turned the First Amendment into a tool of discrimination.
■ The Supreme Court is “an institution of law, not of politics,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh told a judicial conference audience, working to dispel notions that it is partisan.
■ A Colorado web designer’s free-speech victory in the Supreme Court is a win for everyone, wrote a pair of individual-rights professionals in a Bloomberg News essay.
■ Supreme Court justices reaffirmed key protections against retaliatory defamation claims in the Counterman v. Colorado case.
Ben & Justice. The 72-year-old co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream got a chilly reception from police in Washington, D.C., where he was arrested during a protest in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
■ Associated Press reporters have detailed the court ruling that sided with Amish families who balked at Minnesota septic-tank rules, effectively ending the long-running religious-freedom case.
■ Associated Press reporters have detailed the court ruling that sided with Amish families who balked at Minnesota septic-tank rules, effectively ending the long-running religious-freedom case.
■ A defamation case that sought to disclose the identity of an anonymous online critic of pharmaceutical magnate Fredric Eshelman was dismissed in a California district court.
■ Prostitution law does not violate the First Amendment, a U.S. court of appeals ruled in examining the online sex-trafficking act.
