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Making its way through the New York state legislature is the Libel Terrorism Protection Act. The bill aims to mitigate the impact of libel tourism, which former civil-rights attorney Samuel Abady believes undermines our First Amendment.
The legal basis for this show, the various media we cover and, frankly, for the style of our coverage is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But how well do any of us know our beloved protection? Not that well, explains Anthony Lewis in his new book Freedom for the Thought We Hate.
Presidents have always been in the business of managing public relations, but it’s not often we get proof of the strategies they employ. For the current administration, such proof came two weeks ago when its Advance Manual surfaced during a lawsuit. Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick provides a close reading.
San Francisco videographer Josh Wolf has earned the distinction of being the journalist jailed longest for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors. Wolf's lawyer, Martin Garbus, reviews the case.
Can a TV station be a terrorist entity? Mark Dubowitz of the Coalition Against Terrorist Media says the State Department was right to ban transmission of Al Manar, the media outlet of Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Worried about the First Amendment? You’re not the only one.
If they don’t already, government insiders with a tidbit for the press might now think twice before dishing over the phone. This week, two reporters at ABC News said that the Feds were gathering their phone records, most probably to sniff out the source of government leaks. OTM guest host Mike Pesca asks ABC chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross about the possible implications for Ross’ reporting.
With government phone surveillance so much in the news, it’s understandable that some assumed the collection of reporters’ phone records has something to do with the recently-disclosed NSA data mining effort. But that sort of conflation frustrates defense analyst Bill Arkin. He tells Brooke what’s wrong with understanding contemporary intelligence efforts as a Nixonian-style domestic spying program.
For months, the Bush Administration insisted that NSA surveillance is strictly targeted on terrorists and their associates. But this week came allegations that the NSA is also collecting the phone records of ordinary Americans. Critics question the program’s legality, but the president insists that the only ones acting improperly are the people who exposed the program. Brooke speaks with George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley about the latest assault on the press.
