A Reporter's Resource by Helen Ruhlin Check out the website here: https://ruhlin9.wixsite.com/mysite
How to Do Your Job in an Era of Digital Surveillance; A Journalist’s Toolbox
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
By Helen Ruhlin
Should we take a hint from Germany?
At this point, we’ve heard the major arguments as to why a universal freedom of speech is the silver lining in American culture. It isn’t so much about the ability to say as we please but rather the fear of the snowball effect that the contrary could cause that keeps us so passionate about the... Continue Reading →
We need whistleblowers in our hospitals too
Brace yourselves, this is actually a First Amendment news story that restores a little faith in humanity! According to a New Hampshire newspaper, a former spinal cord specialist and whistleblower at the Manchester VA Medical Center has just been awarded the 17th Annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award. The award was "established to honor... Continue Reading →
The Patriot Act is a funny way of saying unjustified snooping
As we're arguably amidst the most digitally intrusive era known to man, there are few "national security" or "anti-terrorism" federal acts that seem to surprise me anymore. After reading about the Patriot Act in Chapter 6 though––I was a little shocked. "Source Protection in the Age of Surveillance" from Journalism After Snowden by Emily Bell... Continue Reading →
If money talks, are religious donations a form of free speech?
So far in Media and the First Amendment (COMM 320), we've learned two things about money: it's fungible, and it conveys a message. So on the topic of free speech, what kinds of donations are First Amendment dilemmas? The answer is religious ones . . . well, political ones too, but we'll save that for... Continue Reading →
Are leakers different from whistleblowers?
This week's reading material covered an important (and extremely relevant) topic: whistleblowers, leakers, and more specifically––the differences between them. While both whistleblowers and leakers are similarly motivated to hold institutions accountable for their actions, the way they're portrayed throughout media and treated by society, varies unfairly. What separates a whistleblower from a leaker? According to... Continue Reading →
Ever been called the B-word in Boston? You may be entitled to compensation.
"What a b!tch!" "B!tch please." "SON OF A B!TCH!" Whether it comes from a college frat bro, a drunken Red Sox fan, a Starbucks-yielding lady you accidentally bumped into on the street, or the average Massachusetts driver on a Monday morning––getting called a bitch is basically Boston's rite of passage. The well-known swear first got... Continue Reading →
Content regulation: Is it about what we say or how we say it?
While a first-reading of Vikram Amar's The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech; Its Constitutional History and the Contemporary Debate can often leave you feeling like "what did I just read?" the message behind content regulations in Part III is actually pretty relevant. The two types of content limitations presented in Amar's book are content-neutral and... Continue Reading →
NBA free speech: 1, China: 0
China’s biggest national TV station, CCTV, refused to air an NBA preseason game between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors on Thursday. According to Time magazine, the Chinese backlash comes after the Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey tweeted “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong,” on October 8. Now if you haven’t been keeping... Continue Reading →
Free Press Free Speech 