Reporters Banned from Press Conference in Detroit

By Kaitlin Ahern

Photograph by Bryan Mitchell © 2008 Associated Press

According to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, two reporters were banned from a speech given Friday, Sept. 5 by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in Detroit, Michigan.

Kilpatrick was found guilty of a sex scandal with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, Thursday and was announcing his resignation from office. The reporters, M.L. Elrick of the Detroit Free Press and Steve Wilson of WXYZ-TV, were prohibited from entering the conference by the mayor’s security detail, RCFP’s Web site said.

Wilson reported that the police labeled him a ‘security threat’ under the grounds of a previous incident involving the mayor in which he pushed an officer – an incident Wilson claims never actually happened. Elrick said he was physically blocked from entering the room.

The scandal was uncovered in part by a state Freedom of Information Act request by the Detroit Free Press (also see this article) by which the paper gained access to and published documents containing text messages related to the cover up of Kilpatrick’s affair with Beatty. The documents – which a court ruled were indeed public, following a lawsuit – provided enough evidence to charge Kilpatrick with eight felonies, of which he was convicted of two.

Is Deviating Kids Away from the Military Overstepping One's First Amendment Rights?

Photo by: Jason E. Miczek

Associated Press (C) 2008

By: Christine G. Tebcherany

According to CNN, in the small town of Wilkesboro, NC, a Quaker by the name of Sally Ferrell is very passionate about steering high school students away from joining the military. She has been a peace activist for many years and feels that military recruits are applying too much pressure on high school students to join the military. Ferrell has distributed information to students with the schools permission to ask them to "think twice" before going towards that path. However, recently she has been stopped by the school's superintendent because he states that her actions are being "unpatriotic."

The American Civil Liberties Union is currently threatening to sue due the fact that it is a First Amendment issue. Ferrell and her fellow advocates say that the military recruits are targeting their district because it is a rural area and has a faltering economy. There are not many job opportunities left in the county and "many students feel like they have no future," according to Tom Morris, a retired engineer and small business owner.

Ferrell, a 63 year old Quaker believes in non violence and has put much of her life into counter-recruiting the military in order to make a difference in the lives of others. After a continious battle with the district, Stephen Laws the Superintendent, decided to no longer allow Ferrell to counter-recruit, because she was not offering anything to the school. The school however, leveled with Ferrell a bit by only letting army recruits visit twice a semester and not allowing them to enter into the lunch rooms. The recruiters state that this does not allow them to gain relationships with the students. Army Sgt. R. Scott Gianfrancesco states he that he doesn't like the new rules, but he has to live by them.

CBS refuses to pay licensing fee to NFL Player's Association

Photo by Lenny Ignelzi (c) 1995 Associated Press


By Kate Fagut


According to Yahoo! Sports, CBS interactive has filed a federal lawsuit against the NFL Player’s Association. The lawsuit, filed in Minneapolis, MN district court was in response to a threat that the NFL Player’s Association would sue them for failing to pay licensing fees. The fees pertained to player statistics used by CBS in their interactive fantasy football league.

“The Players Association may not seek to control the use of player statistics in fantasy games and may not continue to extract money from CBS Interactive for the use of publicly available football statistics,” said CBS interactive.

Previously, CBS had paid a licensing fee to the player’s association, however, since the expiration of their deal on February 29th, no fees have been paid. CBS felt they were no longer required to pay licensing fees after the ruling of a similar case involving fantasy baseball.

The fantasy baseball case arose when Major League Baseball players demanded licensing fees from a Missouri-based company. The case, which was ruled in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, determined no licensing fees were necessary for player statistics. The case was declined review by the United States Supreme Court.

In a SportsBusiness Journal article by Eric Fisher, CBS sought to uphold their first amendment rights over the union’s rights of publicity and declared the union in violation of the Sherman Act.

St. Paul Under Fire for RNC Policing of Journalists

Photograph by Matt Rourke © 2008 Associated Press

By Mirel Ketchiff

According to the Huffington Post, Mayor Chris Coleman of St. Paul, Minn. is facing intense pressure to drop all charges filed against the journalists that were arrested this past week during the Republican National Convention. By the end of the convention around 800 people had been arrested; about 20 were journalists.

The mayor and prosecuting attorneys have received more than 60,000 letters that had been gathered by Free Press, a nonpartisan media reform group, urging city officials to drop any charges and apologize to the journalists. Various journalism groups, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Society for Professional Journalists, also have expressed concern the law enforcement’s actions and are asking why journalists were kept in detention even after they had shown their credentials. Many are convinced that police at the convention were targeting members of the media and are concerned over this restraint of the press.

Minnesota's Star Tribune reported that many of the reporters and photographers arrested had been attempting to cover a large anti-war demonstration that was taking place Thursday night. As the demonstrators marched into downtown St. Paul police detained both marchers and journalists covering the event. Most were detained for a few hours before being ticketed with criminal citations and released.

Among those arrested were local television photographers, AP reporters, an AP photographer, student journalists and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!. According to the Star Tribune, police actions during the RNC in St. Paul will be formally reviewed to investigate claims of excessive force.

Kansas University Creates "Free Speech Zone" Around Anti-Abortion Exhibit

Photo by Bill Ross (c) 2008 Associated Press


By Sarah Casey

In a graphic display of free speech Wednesday, Kansas University student Tammy Cook presented images of aborted fetuses at different stages of development in an attempt to show the public what abortion really looks like and to “more fully understand what abortion is”. Cook is the director of field operations for the anti-abortion group, Justice for All, based in Wichita, Kan.

According to LJWorld.com, the images of the fetuses were displayed on panels situated on the front lawn of Strong Hall at KU. In front of the panels stood a “free speech zone” created by several anti-abortion groups in order to foster the sharing of different opinions on the topic, LJWorld said. The free speech zone consisted of panels where both sides could express their views and standpoints on abortion.

Though civility was upheld between pro-choice and pro-life students during the presentation, Elise Higgins, president of the Commission on the Status of Women told LJWorld that her group “thought the way the discussion was framed was inappropriate.”

John McCain Loves Walter Reed Middle School?

John McCain

Photo by Ron Edmonds (c) 2008 Associated Press

By Caylin Harris

With all eyes closely on John McCain during the Republican National Convention it seemed to be a pretty poor time to be experiencing technical difficulties. According to Wired.com, during McCain's nomination acceptance speech, an image of Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood popped up.

Normally this would not be an issue, only no one from McCain's campaign staff bothered to contact the school for permission to use their image. The principal of Walter Reed Middle School has released a statement saying that permission to use the image was not granted by the school and that the school has no particular political affiliation.

The school could accuse McCain's campaign of neglecting to get explicit consent to use the image of Walter Reed Middle School in association with his campaign.

No one from the McCain campaign staff has commented. Some speculate that the image was supposed to be the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

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.