TheRepublic.com - Freedom of the press News

Jindal signs bill criminalizing release of permits

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:54:20 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Despite criticism it would violate the First Amendment, Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday signed into law a bill that makes it a crime for journalists or anyone else to publicly identify concealed handgun permit holders or applicants.

Pruitt: DOJ broke rules in phone records seizure

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:01:50 -0400

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department violated its own rules when it secretly seized records for thousands of phone calls to and from journalists for The Associated Press as part of a leak investigation, the head of the company said Wednesday.

Group decries Sri Lanka's proposed media code

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:01:11 -0400

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Rights groups are criticizing a code of media ethics proposed by Sri Lanka's government, saying Wednesday that the code could have a chilling effect on free speech in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Ecuador's legislature passes restrictive media law

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:41:51 -0400

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's congress on Friday passed a restrictive new media law championed by President Rafael Correa, creating official media overseers, imposing sanctions for smearing "people's good name" and limiting private media to one third of radio and TV licenses.

Fox reporter's lawyers seek to keep sources secret

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:03:38 -0400

NEW YORK - Lawyers for a Fox News reporter who is being asked to name her sources for a story on last year's Colorado theater shooting urged a New York appeals court Wednesday to quash a subpoena that requires her to appear at a hearing in the state.

Excerpts of editorials from Illinois newspapers

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:02:24 -0400

June 9, 2013

Appeals court says USTR can withhold document

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:38:46 -0400

WASHINGTON - An appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Trade Representative can withhold a classified position paper prepared during free-trade negotiations, reversing a lower court that had ordered the document's release under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Move to quash Wis. journalism center bashed

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:52:36 -0400

MADISON, Wisconsin - A conservative radio talk show host and a moderate Republican state senator on Thursday both bashed a move to quash an investigative journalism center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Holder seeks better balance after press subpoenas

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:19:35 -0400

WASHINGTON - Addressing the aggressive government leak probes that have angered the news media, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday a better balance needs to be struck between press freedom and safeguarding national secrets.

Scott uses free media to help his re-election

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:19:42 -0400

TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Gov. Rick Scott plans to spend millions on his re-election. Until then, his most valuable tool doesn't require his campaign to spend a cent.

Ivory Coast lashes out at US State Dep't report

Tue, 28 May 2013 08:11:15 -0400

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Ivory Coast's government lashed out at the United States Embassy in Abidjan over a report citing restrictions on press freedom including the suspension last year of several opposition media outlets.

Third term begins for Ecuador's President Correa

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:56:18 -0400

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Rafael Correa began his third term as president on Friday under seemingly ideal conditions: extremely high popularity, a more than two-thirds majority in Congress, a stable economy and a badly splintered opposition.

Bill would protect Calif. reporters' phone records

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:01:09 -0400

SACRAMENTO, California - State agencies would be required to give journalists five days' notice before they issue subpoenas to a third-party company for telephone records under legislation announced Thursday by a state senator.

White House: Reporters shouldn't be prosecuted

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:43:39 -0400

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama believes journalists shouldn't be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the White House said Tuesday, showing solidarity with First Amendment advocates alarmed by a pair of high-profile federal probes into national security leaks.

Policy, discretion guide media sources probes

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:35:59 -0400

WASHINGTON - It was a rare moment in relations between the media and the government: In 2008, FBI Director Robert Mueller called the top editors at The New York Times and The Washington Post to apologize because the bureau had improperly obtained reporters' telephone records four years earlier.

Gov't presses ahead on another leak case

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:01:02 -0400

WASHINGTON - In another case of the Obama administration investigating classified information improperly disclosed to reporters, the government is prosecuting a State Department expert on North Korea in a probe that appears to step into uncharted territory - by declaring that a journalist is committing a crime in disclosing leaked information.