Whatever the merits of this particular defamation claim, the president has a long history of abusing the legal system to punish constitutionally protected speech.
The prosecution, the latest example of local attempts to criminalize news reporting, is blatantly at odds with First Amendment principles.
After a lawsuit from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the city backed down. But it's still part of a worrying trend.
The president's portrayal of journalism he does not like as consumer fraud is legally frivolous and blatantly unconstitutional.
More than presidential politics or #AnticipatoryObedience, economics is to blame (or thank) for the long, slow death of a publishing anachronism.
Former NPR and Slate fixture Mike Pesca discusses media meltdowns, objectivity vs. moral clarity, and whether we are better or worse off now that media gatekeepers have less influence.
Subsidies for journalism will divorce reporters from the need to even try to win readers and viewers.
A journalism industry trade group is asking the federal government to thwart a tech tool that could make news publishing less profitable.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill last month that would bar federal agencies from forcing employees to respect preferred names or pronouns.
The Semafor editor and former BuzzFeed News editor in chief on the online media explosion of the 2000s.
Changing phrases to be for or against Israel is part of the job.
Plus: New Zealand libertarianism, Barbie economics, and more...
A decade ago, online startups seemed poised to vanquish legacy media. That didn't happen.
Many Democrats and Republicans were outraged when Trump and Biden respectively were found with classified documents. But both sides are missing the point.
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
Plus: ACLU sides against religious freedom, abortions after Dobbs, and more...
Priscilla Villarreal found herself in a jail cell for publishing two routine stories. A federal court still can't decide what to do about that.
Meanwhile more and more Americans say that they are avoiding news coverage.
Influential media critic Margaret Sullivan demonstrates the perils of letting narrative get ahead of verification.
Newspapers deserve a great deal of credit for the expansion of freedom over the past 200 years. But the media have lost credibility.
Plus: Copyright versus the internet, roofer helping rebuild hurricane-damaged Florida houses arrested for lack of Florida license, and more...
This is a clear attempt by the administration to tamp down on opinions the adults don't like.
They shot and killed a man they were trying to evict. Doesn’t the public have the right to know who they are?
Substack's Hamish McKenzie on censorship, discourse, and Joe Rogan.
A business model where outrage is exploited for clicks describes both social media and the news media.
The Democrats' new tax plan would give local newspapers up to $25,000 in refundable tax credits for each journalist they employ.
The New York Times eliminates op-eds after a half-century of delighting and enraging readers.
At a time when legacy publications are increasingly seen as playing for one political "team" or the other, this type of editorial decision will not do anything to fix that perception.
Plus: Congress moves forward on encryption backdoors, largest school districts aren't reopening, and more...
Plus: Judge rejects Gabbard's Google lawsuit, Bloomberg drops out, and more...
How the press learned to stop worrying and love censorship.
Despite scant evidence, everyone wants to believe that social media has a unique ability to control our thoughts and actions.
The move violates the First Amendment, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
Facebook is the latest to announce its intentions to save local media.
Student journalists at a Vermont high school had a damning article censored by their interim principal.
"I didn't feel comfortable being told what I couldn't write about by President Falwell."
"Imagine: You're having sex with a consenting adult...and then you're arrested and held overnight, and your whole, entire life has been exposed on TV."
"And Rahm, you done, I'm expectin' resignation..."
Any authority to shut down speech will be turned toward the press eventually.
When the press tilts in favor of higher taxes and more regulation, democracy is indeed distorted.
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