Scientology has long been criticized for using litigation to wear down anyone who challenges or investigates its church. Now, Gawker and other sites found themselves the recipients of threatening letters not to show the video, which contains a rather odd interview with Cruise in a frenzy over Scientology and its powers. The claim of copyright infringement and criminal violations appears a scare tactic given the newsworthy content of the video. While some sites immediately buckled under the pressure, Gawker has taken a public and defiant stance against Church. While Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard told his supporters that litigation is meant to harass enemies not win cases, this is one first amendment fight the Church may want to avoid. Continue reading “Scientology Lawyers Go After Bloggers and Sites Featuring Bizarre Cruise Videotape”
Category: Media
The Christa Worthington murder case has taken a surprising turn as jurors allege that racism played a role in the conviction of Christopher McCowen for the crime. The allegations are strikingly similar to those of a juror in the recent conviction of John White in New York. What is remarkable is that the judge in the Worthington murder case has decided to call the jurors to address the allegations in open court. Continue reading “Jurors Allege Racism and Coercion in Murder of Fashion Writer Christa Worthington”
The case against the two Arizona newspaper executives has been dropped by the Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Continue reading “Case Dropped Against Arizona Jounalists — Prosecutor Removed”
Despite refusing to denounce water-boarding as torture and cl aiming a lack of knowledge of the technique, leading democrats are still praising Mukasey for “at least answering the question.” He has also come out against a major reform demanded after attacks by the Administration. Continue reading “Mukasey Opposes Federal Shield Law to Protect Journalists and the Free Press”
In a clear attack on the first amendment, the editors of an Alternative Newspaper have been arrested on charges of violating Grand Jury secrecy. Continue reading “Attack on the Free Press: Arizona Officers Arrest Journalists for Disclosing Grand Jury Abuse”
Published May 4, 2004
Last week, a New York federal judge refused to dismiss a defamation case that reads like a mix of Dr. Ruth and Dr. Seuss. At its heart is a controversy over what a procurer of prostitutes in Dubai told a “horse whisperer” in Germany who told a gossipmonger in New York who told millions of Americans about former Congress member Gary Condit. Though this might sound like a game of post office for pundits, the stakes are high — for commentators, the Constitution and for Condit. Continue reading “Dominick Dunne, Gary Condit, and the Horse Whisperer”
Published 5/16/2006
This month, Congress is faced with a most inconvenient crime. With the recent disclosure of a massive secret database program run by the National Security Agency involving tens of millions of innocent Americans, members are confronted with a second intelligence operation that not only lacks congressional authorization but also appears patently unlawful. In December, the public learned that the NSA was engaging in warrantless domestic surveillance of overseas communications — an operation many experts believe is a clear federal crime ordered by the president more than 30 times.
What is most striking about these programs is that they were revealed not by members of Congress but by members of the Fourth Estate: Journalists who confronted Congress with evidence of potentially illegal conduct by this president that was known to various congressional leaders.
In response, President Bush has demanded to know who will rid him of these meddlesome whistle-blowers, and various devout members have rushed forth with cudgels and codes in hand.
Now, it appears Congress is finally acting — not to end alleged criminal acts by the administration, mind you, but to stop the public from learning about such alleged crimes in the future. Members are seeking to give the president the authority to continue to engage in warrantless domestic surveillance as they call for whistle-blowers to be routed out. They also want new penalties to deter both reporters and their sources. Continue reading “Down to the Fourth Estate: The Failure of the American System to Protect Liberty”
Statement for the Record
Jonathan Turley
J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School
May 26, 2006
Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
United States House of Representatives
I.
INTRODUCTION
Chairman Hoekstra, Representative Harman, members of the Select Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify on the role and responsibility of journalists in covering classified subjects.
The subject of today’s hearing carries particular significance for me as someone who regularly works in both the law and the media. On the legal side, I hold the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at George Washington University where I teach relevant subjects that range from constitutional law to defamation to criminal procedure. In addition to writing on national security subjects as an academic, I have served as counsel in a variety of national security and espionage cases, including as lead counsel in the current terrorism case United States v. Al-Timimi. My litigation background includes cases that have dealt with attorney and journalistic privileges as well as executive privilege and the military and state secrets privilege. Due to my work in cases handling classified material, I have held a clearance since the 1980s.
On the media side, I have worked as a legal commentator for roughly two decades. I am a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors and write regularly for various newspapers, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and other publications. I have also had four stints under contract with NBC and CBS news and continue to appear as a legal analyst regularly on various broadcast and cable programs.
Many lawyers and journalists have become increasingly alarmed by the erosion of protections for the media in this country. While we often refer to our country as the cradle of press freedom, it is not true that the United States currently represents the high water mark for journalistic rights and privileges. Despite our great tradition of a free press and our extensive media industry, other nations now extend greater protections to their reporters and recent coercive measures against reporters have made the United States an area of considerable concern for international organizations.
The recent controversy over press freedom comes at a time when we have never been more dependent on the Fourth Estate to challenge and check the government’s otherwise unbridled authority. In the last few years, we have faced one of the most serious constitutional crises in our history. President Bush has claimed the authority to violate or to circumvent federal law when he deems it to be in the nation’s interest. There continues to be a raging debate over the President’s authority to order warrantless domestic surveillance and other controversial (and potentially criminal) operations. These are controversies that the Administration obviously would have preferred to avoid. Much anger has been directed at the media and there have been calls for new penalties and prosecutions for reporters and their sources. Continue reading “Press Freedom and the War on Terrorism: Testimony in the House Intelligence Committee”