For maximum impact, play the soundtrack of Jaws. An assault on press freedom may not be imminent, but it's looming. For full details, see today's issue of Washington Monthly, with a front-page article on the gathering storm. James H. Barron (yes, he's the same author of the critically acclaimed The Greek Connection) documents the erosion …
Tag: First Amendment
Mourning Paris journalists and attack on press freedom
If I were technologically proficient, I'd edge this blog in black. How profoundly sad is the grievous slaughter of 12 yesterday in Paris, journalists and their police protectors at the satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. What an unspeakable attack on press freedom and the underpinnings of democracy. What a barbaric assault on humanity! Say what you want …
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Keep the buffer zone
WBUR cognoscenti contributor Joanne Barker got it right: Eleanor McCullen, anti-abortion plaintiff in the Supreme Court case challenging the 35-foot buffer zone around clinics offering abortions, isn't typical of the individuals trying to deter patients from entering such facilities. Claiming the buffer zone is an abridgement of her First Amendment freedoms, McCullen says sweetly she …
“Innocence of Muslims” film tests First Amendment beliefs
Set aside such unacceptable (and criminal) "clear and present" dangers such as shouting Fire in a crowded theater, as a journalist I have always thought of myself as something of a First Amendment absolutist. That's being tested these days. The cornerstone of democracy is having a vigorous marketplace of ideas, where all ideas, regardless of merit, are tested, …
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The Supremes Hit a Sour Note
Even as a First Amendment virtual absolutist (with the usual crying-fire-in-a-crowded-theater exceptions), I find it hard to believe there won’t be a flood of bad results from the recent Supreme Court decision lifting limits on corporate spending on behalf of political candidates. Before McCain-Feingold and other post-Watergate restrictions on corporate spending, we have images of …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 