Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Indiana Court of Appeals in Carroll County E911 v. Hasnie. The appeal concerns an Indiana Access to Public Records Act request by Ms. Aishah Hasnie, a TV reporter at the time of her request, to Carroll County E911 for the [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Parekh v. CBS, a case concerning the applicability of the Florida anti-SLAPP statute’s fee-shifting provision in federal court. The district court granted CBS’s motion to dismiss Parekh’s defamation action and [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the California Court of Appeal Fourth Appellate District in M.G. v. Hestrin. This case concerns a retired California Highway Patrol officer who was the target of a wiretap in Riverside County in 2015. He sought access to the wiretap materials [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 1-31-20 State broadcast associations this week added their weight to the National Association of Broadcasters petition for changes to the FCC's guidance on political ad disclosures. NAB joined with Hearst Television, Graham Media Group, Nexstar, Fox, Tegna, and Scripps to ask the FCC to narrow its definition of [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 1-30-20 Microsoft president Brad Smith is calling for more regulation of tech companies. He said those businesses need to step up and provide more self regulation, but "we do think we need more regulation of technology." Smith, who has co-written a new book, Tools and Weapons, was appearing [...]
By Tony Romm, washingtonpost.com, 1-17-20 Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google took a public lashing at a congressional hearing in Boulder, Colo., on Friday, where some of their smaller rivals, including Sonos and Tile, pleaded with federal lawmakers to take swift action against Big Tech. Democrats and Republicans at times appeared stunned as they heard tales [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee, SPJ, and other amici) filed with the Indiana Supreme Court in Indiana Dept. of Corrections v. Toomey. The case arises out of an Indiana Access to Public Records Act request for records related to lethal injection drugs in Indiana. While legal proceedings were in progress, [...]
Participated in a letter (with the Reporters Committee and other news media organizations) sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. The letter opposes restrictions to be placed on the press during the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump. The reported restrictions on the use of electronic devices [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Karem v. Trump. The case involves Brian Karem, a White House correspondent whose security credentials (“hard pass”) were suspended by the White House press secretary for an alleged violation of [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 1-8-20 Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) used an informational hearing on deep fakes and other online manipulation to hammer Big Tech in general and Facebook in particular, while Republicans found more to like on the edge. The hearing, "Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age," in [...]