Contemplating Media & the First Amendment
Private institutions have the ability to fire anyone they want for almost any reason. However, public institutions are bound by the First Amendment and the Constitution. With the First Amendment protecting all kinds of speech, this has caused more than a few problems. Most recently, a professor at Indiana University has been under fire for... Continue Reading →
Image credit: Alexis Beauclair As I was reading through various articles about the first amendment in the news, I stumbled upon this publication by the Knight Foundation: High school student views on the First Amendment: Trends in the 21st Century. One of the key findings according to the report is that high school students’ support... Continue Reading →
You know that global warming idea that has been proven by science but the Trump Administration refuses to acknowledge it? Yeah, that one. You got it. Because of climate change, things aren't looking too hot - please not the irony - for endangered species. 99.8% of endangered species are having a hard time adapting to... Continue Reading →
In reviewing the literature on new coverage of environmental crises, one article posed the question on whether journalists should volunteer to help people experiencing natural disasters by doing activities, such as passing out water bottles. Another article mentioned that many journalists who covered 9/11 highlighted American values, such as strength, and showed support for the... Continue Reading →
Rachel Smolkin’s piece on the ethics of covering natural disasters was eye-opening to me. It featured the perspectives of many journalists who, while covering Hurricane Katrina, struggled to balance their morals with codes of journalistic practice. Smolkin describes that a group of students was once asked whether they would interrupt their reporting of a story... Continue Reading →
In every discussion about the distribution of government funds, someone brings up military spending. And every time someone quips, "Why don't we just spend less on the military? There are billions going towards them," I always express my opinion on the matter: "The U.S. government has dug themselves into a hole so deep - with... Continue Reading →
We've been seeing a lot of whistleblowing not just in the past few weeks, but in the last 6 years or so when Snowden leaked highly classified information to the media. People have mixed emotions about this. On one hand, the fact that the government knows every single word we say and every set we... Continue Reading →
Photo from 11/15/19 edition of The Onion. Like any other red-blooded American, I have been hooked on the impeachment proceedings. And, as literally every lawyer/politician/journalist/random person on the street will tell you, it is a purely political process. An entertaining political process, sure, but strictly politics through and through. And during these last few days,... Continue Reading →
Kentucky man Ben Hart just won a three-year legal battle over the right to personalize his license plate. Why? His requested license plate read “IM GOD.” This might seem a bit ridiculous, but this was an important win in Kentucky. For the courts to allow other God related license plates because they have to... Continue Reading →
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 →
Free Press Free Speech 