Seven Dirty Words

George Carlin
Photo by E. Pablo Kosmicki (c) 2007 Associated Press

by Naomi P

Counterculture comedian George Carlin, who pushed the boundaries of free speech and decency in his routines, died yesterday of heart failure at the age of 71, the L.A. Times reports. Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" comedy routine sparked the FCC v Pacifica case in which the Supreme Court upheld the FCC's sanction against the Pacifica Foundation radio station for indecency on broadcast.

Federal Shield Law on Hold

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas
Photo by Harry Cabluck,. (c) 2006 Associated Press

by Naomi P

The proposed federal shield law, which would protect journalists from fines or jail time for refusing to divulge their sources in federal court cases, has come to a standstill in the Senate, the Austin American-Statesman reported Monday at www.Statesman.com. The sticking point centers on the definition of a journalist and how that might relate to national security.

On one hand, allowing the government to define what a journalist is can have the effect of relinquishing the independence of a free press. As Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in the article, “I don't want people to say the government is, in fact, licensing journalists.” However, a law too broad could “give cover to a criminal or terrorist group mining classified information under the guise of journalism,” which is Cornyn’s concern on the other hand, the Statesman reported. “ ‘I don't want some jihadist self-designated as a journalist,’ he said. ‘The question, in this sort of new era we're in, is who is a journalist?’ ” (quoted in the Statesman)

Senior members of President Bush’s Cabinet are worried that a federal shield law would encourage the leaking of classified information and make prosecution of those who break the law in doing so it nearly impossible, according to the article in the Statesman.

Illinois Governor Bars Access to Records of Pardons

Picture by Seth Perlman. (c) 2007 Associated Press.

by Mugambi Nthiga

Another United States governor could soon be subjected to public scrutiny. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Illinois’ Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration, in what is considered to be a surprising move, has halted the opening of books to the press, that contain records of dozens of pardons that the governor has granted since he took office in 2003.

The executive clemency files, which were previously accessible to the press, contain such records as police reports, letters of recommendation and court records of past felonies, now pardoned by Blagojevich.

After two of the governor’s past pardons had raised criticisms, his administration rejected a FOIA request from The Chicago Sun-Times to access the records. “Release of the information ... would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” wrote the Prisoner Review Board's general counsel, Kenneth Tupy. The party whose privacy would be compromised has remained unnamed. The paper is now appealing the rejection.

Once again, the First Amendment is Presented to the People

Sourced from the National Archive. (c) 2006 Associated Press


Posted by Mugambi Nthiga

Feeling that the public perceives the press as a group of “unethical snoops”, and seeking to restore its image as “heroic investigators”, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) will carry out a public awareness campaign on the First Amendment and its importance to the press.

According to The Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, the awareness drive is part of a larger campaign to drum up public support for the First Amendment in innovative ways, and with help from more than 1,000 news organizations. This drive will involve the formidable task of digitizing government information, offering the public online access to government documents, and collaborating to improve reporters’ skills as watchdog journalists.

Toni Locy, one reporter being upheld as a living example of why such a campaign is necessary, works for the USA Today and is going through the appeal process for a contempt-of-court citation brought against her for refusing to reveal her sources in the infamous 2001 anthrax-mailing controversy.

Settle Out of Court, Urges Judge in ‘Harry Potter’ Suit

Posted by Mugambi Nthiga


Picture by Louis Lanzano. (c) 2008 Associated Press.


According to the Winnipeg Sun, It seems that U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr. would rather have J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, and Steven Vander Ark, author of an unauthorized encyclopedia of the series titled ‘The Harry Porter Lexicon’ settle their differences out of court. He fears that the copyright infringement case involves many unresolved issues of American law, and could thus drag on for years in appeal hearings.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs – Rowling and Warner Bros (which holds the intellectual property rights to the books and films) – claim that “The Harry Porter Lexicon”, a fan-based collection of Harry Potter story lines and spells, contains too much copyrighted material from Rowling’s work.

The case, which began last Monday, is being heard at the Manhattan federal court, and has proved to be an emotional affair thus far.

Reporters Get Kicked Out of Public Meeting

Posted by Mugambi Nthiga

Two reporters from The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland daily, were ejected from a public meeting by Cuyahoga Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, after they asked him a question regarding a county employee’s qualifications and the reason she was hired.

According to The Plain Dealer, Mark Puente and Henry J. Gomez approached the Commissioner during recess, just before the meeting resumed. When they asked him about the employee, he became visibly upset and ordered that the reporters be escorted out by security. Plain Dealer editor Susan Goldberg described the eviction as “unacceptable” and part of “illegal, strong arm tactics [that] have no place in a free society.”

Listen to the altercation between Dimora and the reporters here.

WVU Faces Lawsuit from Pittsburgh Newspaper

By Mugambi Nthiga

The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette last Tuesday sued West Virginia University for failure to abide by the West Virginia’s law on open access to records.

According to an article in its own paper, the Post-Gazette claims that WVU delayed in answering its request to release some documents related to its retroactive award of an MBA degree to Heather Bresch, daughter of the governor of West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin.

The suit alleges that WVU did not respond promptly to a series of requests made by the paper under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Some of the requested documents addressed in the suit include WVU President Michael Garrison’s e-mail, cell phone and land-line records.