Monthly Archives: February 2017

From left: Tom Fiedler, Donna Green, Margaret Sullivan, Judith Meyer, and Michael Donoghue at the New England First Amendment Coalitions annual awards luncheon on Friday.

The New England First Amendment Coalition presented its top honor to Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for The Washington Post.

Sullivan accepted the Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award on Friday before a large crowd of journalists, lawyers, educators, students, and media executives at NEFACs annual awards luncheon at the Marriott Long Wharf.

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The award is named after the late publisher of the Providence Journal who passed away in 2005, and past recipients have included US Senator Patrick Leahy; former federal judge Nancy Gertner; former Globe editor Marty Baron; James Risen and Anthony Lewis of The New York Times; and GlobalPost founder Philip Balboni.

The New England First Amendment Coalition also presented Judith Meyer, executive editor of the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine, with the Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award, and Donna Green of New Hampshire received the Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award.

Among those in attendance at the luncheon were Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition; Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University; Michael Rezendes, Larry Edelman, Emily Procknal, Jasmine Wu, Nick Osborne, and Linda Pizzuti Henry of the Globe; Mike Beaudet of WCVB-TV; Tom Fiedler, dean of the College of Communication at Boston University; and WBZ political analyst Jon Keller, who served as emcee.

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Margaret Sullivan receives First Amendment Award - The Boston ... - The Boston Globe

A man who loves free speech more than you do. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

On Friday, president Trump said that the media shouldnt be allowed to cite anonymous sources because Americas most respected newspapers routinely make up such sources, and publish stories of their own invention. He reiterated his contention that fake news outlets like the New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, CBS, and CNN are the enemy of the people, and suggested that Americans should not protest their government in between elections.

The president also said, I love the First Amendment nobody loves it more than me.

Trump and his administration have been waging a war on objective reality and those tasked with describing it from the moment he was sworn in. In his first appearance as White House press secretary, Sean Spicer demanded that reporters believe the presidents estimate of the size of his inaugural crowd over their own lying eyes. As Trumps tumultuous (and not terribly productive) first month in office progressed, he grew ever more preoccupied with discrediting the Fourth Estate.

On Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Steve Bannon and Reince Preibus instructed the audience not to believe any negative news they read about the administration, over and over again. By the end of their conversation, the word media had been spoken 19 times, and the phrase opposition party, Bannons favorite synonym for the mainstream press, six times.

It wasnt terribly surprising, then, that the president opened his remarks to CPAC with a long diatribe against the media. But Trumps speech did represent a significant escalation in his crusade against independent journalism.

Previously, the president had criticized the press for printing illegal leaks from anonymous government officials and suggested that those officials have often shared false information. But hed never before claimed that major newspapers were fabricating sources out of whole cloth and presenting works of fictions as reportage.

The leaks are real. Youre the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean, the leaks are real, Trump told reporters at a press conference last Thursday. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real.

As of Friday morning, the president still maintained that the anonymous officials quoted in the media were genuine members of the government.

But hours later Trump suggested that reporters cant find actual government officials to leak to them, and thus are forced to invent them.

A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people, Trump said. Because they have no sources, they just make em up when there are none Im against the people that make up stories and make up sources.

The people that make up stories ostensibly includes all of the major outlets listed in this recent tweet.

Late Thursday night, the Trump administration admitted that it had encouraged the FBI to anonymously leak exculpating information about the presidents relationship with Russia. On Friday morning, Trump declared, They shouldnt be allowed to use sources unless they use somebodys name They should put the name of the person. You will see stories dry up like youve never seen before.

Then, after briefly praising the First Amendment, the president said that media doesnt represent the people, and were going to do something about it.

Trumps only substantive argument for why his audience shouldnt trust the media was that most of these outlets pre-election polling suggested that he would not win. He then credited the Los Angeles Times poll for its singular accuracy. That poll predicted that Trump would win the popular vote, making it one of the least accurate national polls of the 2016 cycle.

But in the presidents telling, fake news outlets and skewed pollsters arent the only ones who have been abusing their First Amendment rights the other enemies of the American people are the American people who didnt vote for Donald Trump.

Referring to the town hall protests in support of Obamacare, Trump said, The people that youre watching, theyre not you. Theyre largely many of them are the side that lost, you know they lost the election. Its like, how many elections do we have to have?

The election is over. The worlds biggest fan of the First Amendment won. So, if you voted against him, its time to shut up.

This Obscure News Story, Which Should Be Huge, Shows How Trump Gets Away With Corruption

Connie Britton Leaves Nashville Fans With the Cold Comfort of a Heartfelt Coda After That Momentous Episode

Trumps Counterterrorism Adviser Sebastian Gorka Has Links to Anti-Semitic Groups

The boxing legends family is considering a lawsuit over the incident.

The California Republican thinks Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself.

As conservatism faces an existential crisis, a tour through CPACs after parties proves educational.

A small dip from 2015, but the third-straight yearly decline under Vision Zero.

Former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear is an out-of-work centrist representing a party thats energized on the left.

A leaked document shows House Republicans mulling controversial ideas like ending Medicaid as we know it and a new tax on employer-provided insurance.

It says citizenship in the Muslim-majority countries included in the ban is an unlikely indicator of a terrorism threat.

Dont feel bad for Paul Ryan, hell end up getting a big tax cut for the rich in the end.

Its been a hot month, with nearly 4,500 record highs set, compared to 29 record lows.

The White House denied any links to President Trumps rhetoric.

Earlier in the day, Trump explained that the media isnt the enemy of the people but the fake news media is.

Kevin Hassett once co-authored a book imploring investors to enter the stock market just before the dot-com bubble burst.

Is the mainstream right ready to replace its traditional values with pure nationalism?

It looked like Attorney General Jeff Sessionss warm-up act in loosening protections for all minorities.

The president told CPAC the media shouldnt be allowed to cite anonymous sources, and suggested people shouldnt protest after an election.

We will not answer to donors, lobbyists, or special interests now heres another story about me answering to special interests.

This may be the lowlight of a week that also saw him make an unhinged phone call to a critic that got recorded and published.

This isnt the first time the president has appeared to advocate for nuclear proliferation.

The White House asked the FBI to leak exculpating details about Trumps ties with Russia. It leaked the details of that conversation instead.

The Republican Partys best chance to repeal Obamacare is already gone.

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Trump Praises First Amendment, Calls for Media Suppression - New York Magazine

Patch.com

First Amendment Victory In Portland: Judge Tosses First Subpoena Of Reporter By Trump Administration Patch.com In a significant victory for the First Amendment, a federal judge in Portland told prosecutors that they could not force a reporter to testify in an ongoing criminal trial. The subpoena had been the first issued to a reporter by the Trump Justice ... and more »

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First Amendment Victory In Portland: Judge Tosses First Subpoena Of Reporter By Trump Administration - Patch.com

Prosecutors in an Arkansas murder trial claim that anAmazon Echocould hold data crucial to the case, but Amazon says that data is protected by the First Amendment and is refusing to give it up.

The case involves a Bentonville, Ark., man accused of first-degree murder. It received national attention in December when authorities issued a warrant for data stored on the defendant's Echo, powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. In a lengthycourt filinglast week, Amazon said that Echo voice commands as well as Alexa data stored on the company's servers cannot be subject to a search warrant, Forbesreports.

In the filing, Amazon explains that it records Echo users' voice commands and a transcript of Alexa's responses. "Both types of information are protected speech under the First Amendment," Amazon's lawyers write.

Because of that protection, the government must show a compelling need for the data. It failed to do so in this case, Amazon writes, arguing that the judge should quash the warrant. "Such government demands inevitably chill users from exercising their First Amendment rights to seek and receive information and expressive content in the privacy of their own home, conduct which lies at the core of the Constitution," the company says.

An Amazon spokespersontold PCMag in Decemberthat it will not release customer information without a "valid and binding legal demand properly served on us."

As Amazon wrangles with the government over Alexa in court, the voice service's features continue to grow, withWiredreporting this week that more than 10,000 Alexa skills are now available, just a year and a half after Amazon opened the platform to third-party developers.Alexa skillsallow users to tap a variety of external services using voice commands, from controllingsmart light bulbsto accessing smartphone notifications.

Tom is PCMag's San Francisco-based news reporter.

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Amazon Says First Amendment Protects Alexa Data - Entrepreneur

Organizers of a Celebration of the First Amendment Saturday afternoon at Floyds Eco-System had to set up extra chairs for the additional attendees who heard speeches, panel discussions, songs and poems about the Constitutional amendment that protects freedom of speech, the press and other such freedoms.

Designed to speak out against what many see as assaults on such freedoms, the crowd applauded and cheered when speakers discussed the right to protest against the government and freely express opinions. Floyd Countys Commonwealths Attorney Eric Branscom kicked off the speeches with a history lesson that talked about a President who wanted to suppress freedom of speech and the press and jail those who did not agree and was backed by the political party that controlled Congress.

Turned out he was talking about President John Adams in 1794 and control of the Federalist Party over Congress then. Branscom said it took Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who followed Adams, to implement a version of states rights and pardons to get those who disagreed with Adams out of jail and protest the then-new First Amendment.

Even so, Branscom said, it would take 165 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would fully overturn the legal challenges from the 1700s in the Times v. Sullivan case that reaffirmed freedom of the press and the other freedoms of the amendment.

Radford University media professor, author and former newspaperman Bill Kovarik introduced himself to the audience as an enemy of the people, citing a term used by current President Donald Trump, and then brought applause and cheers in a speech where he called for strong opposition and protest against the head of state.

We are friends of the people, Kovarik said, adding that the media must questions those elected to office locally, statewide and nationally.

I work in the tradition of Ben Franklin, Joseph Pulitzer, Ernie Pyle and Woodward and Bernstein, Kovarok said.

The press is not perfect, he said. Were watchdogs.

He said that being called an enemy of the people is dangerous speech.

The press is the Constitutions best friend, he added.

A panel on free speech included Branscom, Floyd County Sheriff Brian Craig, activist Tree Gigante and attorney and columnist Alan Graf, who answered questions from the floor and talked about protest.

Craig praised organizers of events like the Womens March in January for working with his department.

We know the people involved in these events, and we work with them, he said.

Graf said that he, as an attorney, has represented people charged with crimes because they protested legally.

When I came to Floyd, I told the sheriff that I also had sued the police over handling of protests, he said.

As a living, Craig answered with a laugh.

Gigante said protests in many cases are not only a right but should also be considered a duty.

Sometimes, she added, it may be necessary to violate the law to carry out that right.

Brancom said law enforcement must establish where the line is drawn between peaceful and violent protest.

What are the boundaries? Sometimes the limits must be it comes back to pushing against the government, he said.

A panel on freedom of religion consisted of Graf, who told the audience Im Jewish and I come from a holocaust family, Imam Abdullah Ferrom of Roanoke Mosque and Quaker Kim ODonnell.

ODonnell said her religion considers relationship with God a deeply personal thing. Our right to practice is a something we strive to protest.

Ferrom said Muslims work to peacefully co-exist with other religions but face a lot of distrust from others who cite their religion as justification for violence against his beliefs.

He cited threats of having a Muslim registry required in America as a threat.

If there such a thing as a Muslim registry, I will register as a Muslim, Graf said, which brought applause and comments of so will I from members of the audience.

The event also awarded youth and adults for essays, poems and songs about the First Amendments and threats against the freedoms it is designed to protect.

First place winners who were present read their essays or poems to the audience and sang their songs.

Michael Kovick closed the event with his second-place winning song.

Linville M. Meadows, Second Place

Will Bason, Honorable Mention

Andrew Finn, Honorable Mention

Alex Hicks, Honorable Mention

Leah Pierce, Honorable Mention

Kaci Marshall, Honorable Mention

Greg Arens, Honorable Mention

Jillian Greenhalgh, First

Cameron Callahan, Third Place

Julian Hensley-Buzzell, Honorable Mention

Isaac Byrd, Honorable Mention

Stella Sessions, Honorable Mention

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Crowd attends event celebrating the First Amendment - Southwest Virginia Today