Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Ohio Court of Appeals in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The case concerns a defamation lawsuit brought by a bakery against Oberlin College following a student protest that accused the bakery of engaging in racial profiling and discrimination. The [...]
Participated with the Reporters Committee and 124 other media organizations and outlets in a letter to New York City officials urging them to take immediate, concrete steps to end the police arrests and attacks on credentialed and clearly identifiable journalists that occurred during civil protests. The letter makes the same legal arguments as a [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia Bail Fund v. Arraignment Court Magistrate Judges. In this case, Philadelphia Bail Fund (PBF), a nonprofit organization advocating for reform of Philadelphia’s bail system, brought suit to challenge the constitutionality [...]
Participated in comments (with the Reporters Committee and other media groups) filed with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget regarding proposed changes to OMB’s “Guidelines” on FOIA fees. The proposed updates (prompted by a recent lawsuit) are limited to a small number of issues. These comments address two issues: (1) the elimination of [...]
FOR RELEASE: June 4, 2020 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., June 4, 2020 – “The First Amendment protects journalists who are complying with reasonable law enforcement directions when covering civil unrest. The right of the media to report on police activity is foundational to our democracy, but recent documented events [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Vaught. In this case, plaintiffs ALDF and three other groups challenge the constitutionality of Arkansas’s ag-gag statute. The statute creates a civil cause of action [...]
Participated with the Reporters Committee and 113 other media organizations and outlets in a letter to Minnesota officials urging them to take immediate, concrete steps to end the police arrests and attacks on credentialed and clearly identifiable journalists that occurred during civil protests. The letter states that the right of the press to document police [...]
FOR RELEASE: May 28, 2020 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., May 28, 2020 – Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar issued the following statement in response to the Executive Order signed by President Trump on May 28 regarding social media platforms: “The First Amendment must be the unwavering beacon in [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 5-18-20 Attorney General Bill Barr made Apple's refusal to build government back-doors into information on its iPhone part of the lead of his announcement on the December shooting at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Barr said Apple's practice of warrantless encryption is "dangerous" and "unacceptable." Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 5-18-20 Broadcasters and tech companies are high on the broadband-related prospects of ATSC 3.0, particularly for automotive applications as a near term starter, but ultimately only as a complement to the mothership of a primary TV signal sporting major new upgrades due to that Next Gen TV-branded broadcast [...]