February 2024

STUDENT PRESS FREEDOM DAY

Celebrating the Student Journalist

NEFAC’s Justin Silverman and Josh Moore at the Student Press Law Center describe the increasingly critical role student journalists play in our communities.

In their Student Press Freedom Day op/ed, Silverman and Moore write that “more than 200 of the nation’s counties have no newspaper and no alternative source of credible information on critical issues. Student journalists, however, are filling the void.” [...]

MASSACHUSETTS

NEFAC, Open Government Advocates Criticize Municipal Empowerment Act’s Approach to Public Meeting Reforms

The proposal would make the format of local open meetings completely discretionary instead of guaranteeing hybrid public meetings.

“It’s time to guarantee the permanent removal of long-standing barriers to participation that particularly impact people with disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, or limited transportation,” the groups wrote. [...]

Additional Coverage

• Critics: Healey’s Municipal Reform Plan Limits Public Access to Meetings| Gloucester Daily Times

OPEN GOVERNMENT

The goal of Sunshine Week — March 10-16 this year with related events occurring throughout the month — is to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know about government. Here's how NEFAC will be celebrating:

March 11 | Keeping the Light On and Holding Government Accountable in New Hampshire

March 16 | How Public Records Shed Light on State and Local Government in Rhode Island

30 MINUTE SKILLS

Campaign Reporting 101

As we near the 2024 election season, coverage of campaigns will surge. This lesson is the first of two that will prepare you for covering political campaigns and show how this coverage can be incorporated into all beats.

You’ll learn (1) how to organize your reporting and manage specific coverage objectives (2) how to immediately begin easy campaign stories and (3) how to develop best practices for communicating with candidates.

March 12 | Campaign Reporting 102

April 16 | Climate Reporting

May 17 | How to Develop a Beat

June 11 | Protect Yourself Online

Sept. 10 | Audio Reporting

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NEFAC Joins The State We're In to Discuss Possible Changes to Right to Know Law

NEFAC President Gregory V. Sullivan recently joined journalist Annmarie Timmins and advocate Katherine Kokko on PBS’s The State We’re In. Sullivan discussed the state’s Right to Know Law and HB 1002, a bill that would allow public bodies and agencies to charge up to $25 an hour for record searches that take longer than 10 hours.

Additional Coverage

• Government Transparency Advocates Prevail in Slowing Bill with Public Records Fee | New Hampshire Bulletin
• Right-To-Know Requests Could Be Expensive Under Bill Passed By House | InDepthNH
• House Passes Bill to Charge for Large Right-to-Know Requests | Union Leader
• House Passes Bill That Could Make Public Records Requests Costly | New Hampshire Bulletin

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

Accessing Police Misconduct Records

Register Now for New Round of FOI Lessons

The lessons build on NEFAC’s growing library of public records classes. They will be taught by local journalists and attorneys who will provide an overview of their respective state’s law and explain how misconduct records can be accessed. [...]

View | Vermont

View | New Hampshire

March 7 | Massachusetts

March 21 | Maine

April 4 | Connecticut

April 18 | Rhode Island

RHODE ISLAND

Why Do Lawmakers Want to Update the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act? 

The Public’s Radio afternoon host Dave Fallon recently spoke with NEFAC Executive Director Justin Silverman about Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act and efforts to reform the law.

A bill currently being considered proposes a reduction of fees for records, more transparency within law enforcement agencies and updates to how requests can be submitted, among other changes.

Additional Coverage

• DiPalma Introduces Public Records Access Legislation | Newport This Week
• State Officials Will Try Once Again to Reform APRA Laws | The Woonsocket Call
• Lawmakers Say It’s Time to Overhaul R.I. Public Records Law | The Boston Globe
• Lawmakers Seek to Make Public Records More Easily Accessible in RI | WPRI
• Access to Public Records Was a Problem in the Bridge Shutdown. Will That Help Reforms Pass? | The Providence Journal

MORE NEFAC COMMENTARY AND COVERAGE

How Much is That Public Records Request? McKee Orders RIDOT to Refund News Outlets

WPRI investigative reporter and Target 12 Managing Editor Tim White said he’s happy McKee ordered the refund. “I hope this is a trend in the right direction,” said White, who was also a longtime board member of the New England First Amendment Coalition.

White said he understands that work has to be put in to respond to records requests, but views fees charged to media “as a method to try and chill the request itself.” The real problem, he said, is getting a fee waived. APRA requires a requester to have a state judge review if “the information requested is in the public interest.”

“I don’t think anyone can argue shedding light on what led up to the closure of the Washington Bridge isn’t in the public’s interest, yet requiring the public to petition the court to waive a fee is impractical,” White said. “It’s another example of why the law is deeply flawed and needs to be overhauled.” [...]

City Council Meetings Disrupted By Antisemitic Group Trying to Gain a Foothold in New England

Attorney Maggie Mulvihill, an associate professor of journalism at Boston University and a board member of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said that though speech by the Goyim Defense League and other neo-Nazis is troubling, “they have the right to speak.”

“People say horrible, hateful things, but they have a right to do that unless it falls in these narrow categories, like it’s a true threat or it is inciting violence, like the Brandenburg decision,” Mulvihill said. “So, government agencies have to be very, very careful about restricting somebody’s speech.” [...]

City Councilors’ Dispute with Vocal Critics Escalates to Court Hearing

Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said that in light of the fact that parties to the hearing support opening the proceeding, there’s a good argument for doing so.

“It strikes me as unusual,” Silverman said on Thursday morning. “I cannot think of another instance where the accused has asked that it be open and it’s denied.”

According to published state standards, the privacy of show cause hearings is to benefit those who have been accused. But, in view of the fact that all parties in the hearing have been named publicly, Silverman said he could not understand the need to close the hearing.

“We already know who these people are, so there’s no privacy left to protect,” he said. [...]

MORE FOI & FIRST AMENDMENT NEWS

National / Regional

First Amendment, Social Media

• Supreme Court Casts Doubt on GOP-Led States' Efforts to Regulate Social Media Platforms | Associated Press
• Supreme Court Justices Express Free Speech Concerns About GOP-Backed Social Media Laws | NBC News
• Takeaways From the Supreme Court’s Arguments on Texas and Florida’s Social Media Laws and the First Amendment | CNN
• US Supreme Court to Hear Landmark Social Media Cases | CNN
• The Supreme Court Will Hear Challenges to Texas and Florida Social Media Laws | Connecticut Public

AI and Misinformation

• A Big Worry for Democracy? Not Believing in Anything You See or Hear Because of AI | The Boston Globe
• AI Fakes Raise Election Risks as Lawmakers and Tech Companies Scramble to Catch Up | Maine Public
• Law School Clinic Files Brief to Combat Intentionally False Statements About Voting | Yale Daily News

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• Protected Beeps? Supreme Court Declines to Decide on Laws Against Honking Horns | CNN
• What a Julian Assange Conviction Could Mean for the Future of Press Freedom | Connecticut Public
• Debates Over the 1st Amendment on College Campuses | Connecticut Public
• Was Amazon 'Free to Ignore' White House Demands That It Suppress Anti-Vaccine Books? | Reason

Connecticut

• A Connecticut Town’s Proposed Policy Would Restrict a Whole Range of Expressive Activity in a 350-Year-Old Public Forum | FIRE
• Here's What is Being Done to Prevent So-Called Deep Fakes in Connecticut | NBC Connecticut

Maine

• Attorney General Will Not Release Video of South Portland Police Shooting It Says Was Justified | Portland Press Herald
• Maine Foreign Election Interference Law May Be Paused By Federal Judge | Bangor Daily News
• Maine Trust for Local News Asks Court to Unseal Records in Lottery Winner’s Lawsuit | Portland Press Herald
• Appeals Court Sides with Conservative Group, Says Maine Should Disclose Info on State's Voters | Maine Public
• Finally, It’s Costly to Withhold Public Information From the Public | Portland Press Herald
• Maine’s High Court Declines to Rule If Terrorizing Law is Unconstitutional | Bangor Daily News

Massachusetts

Student Speech

• Will Middleboro 'Two Genders' T-Shirt Case Land in Supreme Court? It's Only One Step Away | The Enterprise
• Massachusetts Student Who Was Banned From Wearing ‘Only Two Genders’ Shirt is Focus of Free Speech Appeals Case | Boston Herald
• Oral Arguments Issued in Case Where Massachusetts 12-Year-Old Suing School Over Right to Wear Shirt | Fall River Reporter

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• Mass. AG Campbell Discusses Suit Against Neo-Nazi Group, Legislature Audit Debate | WAMC
• Boston Sued for Records of White Supremacist Protest | Law 360
• Book Search Should Lead to Protections for the Freedom to Read | The Berkshire Eagle
• Lawyer in Dogfight for Police Internal Affairs Records | Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
• State Auditor Says Massachusetts Governor Shouldn't Be Exempt From Public Records Law | WCVB
• Posts About Child Abuse Investigator Weren't 'Harassment' That Could Be Enjoined | The Volokh Conspiracy
• Literary Censorship Challenged in School Library | The Bay State Banner
• Revenge Porn Bill Could Make AI-Generated Deepfakes Illegal in Massachusetts | GBH
• What Some State House Sunshine Could Show Us | GBH News
• Springfield Diocese Sues Northampton, Saying First Amendment Gives It Right to Remove Church Windows | MassLive
• Hearings for Alleged Customers of Sex Ring Will Be Public, SJC Rules | WBUR
• Public Defenders Sue Mass. State Police, Allege Flouting of Public Records Law | Worcester Telegram & Gazette
• Massachusetts, a State with Woeful Government Transparency Standards, Needs the Sunlight Act | The Berkshire Eagle

New Hampshire

• A Small Town, Public Art, and the First Amendment | Christian Science Monitor
• Second Man Accused of Vandalizing Journalists' Homes Pleads Guilty in New Hampshire | Associated Press
• Dover Man's Lawyer: Threat to 'Impale' Presidential Candidate is Free Speech | Foster's Daily Democrat
• Biden Deepfake in NH Sounds Alarm on AI in Elections: New Law Proposed | Portsmouth Herald

Rhode Island

• How Much is R.I. Governor McKee’s Administration Charging for Public Records of High Public Interest? | The Boston Globe
• Don’t Speak: NDAs a Surprisingly Common Part of College President Searches | Rhode Island Current
• ACLU Defends Westerly Woman Named in Spring Avenue Lawsuit | The Westerly Sun
• Newberry Bill Would Reform State’s Public Records Act | Northern Rhode Island News
• Public Access Should Not Come at a Cost | Cranston Herald
• Former Mayor of Newport Under Public Scrutiny Following Release of Email | The Newport Daily Express

Vermont

• A Vt. Christian School’s Lawsuit Seen as Possible Bellwether in Conservative Movement Against Transgender Rights | The Boston Globe
• ACLU Accuses Vt. Health Commissioner of Violating Open Meeting Law | WCAX
• Public Records Are Just That — Public | VTDigger