New England First Amendment Coalition |
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The New England First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the incoming class of fellows for its 2022 New England First Amendment Institute.
The institute — provided at no cost to those who attend — is Oct. 23-25 and features many of the country’s elite reporters, editors and media attorneys. Keynote speakers include Sewell Chan of the Texas Tribune, NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer and Mark Walker of The New York Times. [...]
Additional NEFAI News
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The New England First Amendment Coalition recently argued against a New Hampshire police officer’s attempt to use a pseudonym in a lawsuit involving the state’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, also known as the “Laurie List.”
The officer was placed on the list — which names police officers who have engaged in misconduct reflecting negatively on their credibility or trustworthiness — and now seeks to have his name removed.
“Permitting Doe to litigate this case pseudonymously will hinder the news media’s ability to fully inform the public about ongoing judicial proceedings of substantial public concern,” wrote NEFAC and a group of media organizations in a Sept. 19 amicus brief. [...]
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NOW OPEN TO RHODE ISLAND JOURNALISTS:
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The New England First Amendment Coalition joined several open government advocates today to demand Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis follow his state’s public records law and release information pertaining to the recent flight of Venezuelan migrants to Massachusetts.
The migrants were flown from San Antonio, Texas, and through Florida before landing on Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month. The flight was reportedly organized by Florida’s executive branch and funded with tax dollars. Dozens of requests by news organizations for information under the Florida public records law have gone unfulfilled.
“There are undoubtedly records related to this flight — from planning to execution to post-flight communications,” explained NEFAC, the First Amendment Foundation, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in a Sept. 26 letter. [...]
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Before using data cleaning and visualization tools, it’s important to first obtain the most relevant datasets. Your reporting will improve with the quality of the data you use. By viewing this lesson, you will learn: |
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- How to create pivot tables from large datasets.
- How to use pivot tables to generate findings for your stories.
- Tips on where to find databases that aren’t online.
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NEFAC Summer Legal Fellow Lucas Uhl, a second-year student at Boston College Law School, discusses the constitutional and open government conflicts with a questionnaire intended to root out prejudices in Massachusetts police departments. |
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Local Journalists to Share How Newsrooms Respond to Executive Session Secrecy |
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NEFAC is continuing its series on state open meeting laws with new classes on executive sessions.
The classes feature local journalists who will share stories of government agencies inappropriately holding executive sessions, secret meetings that are allowed only under certain circumstances. The journalists will discuss how they responded to these meetings and continued their reporting.
This latest round of classes is provided by NEFAC with support from the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation, SPJ New England, the Rhode Island Foundation, MuckRock and the New England Society of News Editors.
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Sawyer Loftus
Bangor Daily News
Len Besthoff
NBC Connecticut
Jonathan Van Fleet
Concord Monitor
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Sasha Goldstein
Seven Days
Ethan Shorey
The Valley Breeze
Jill Harmacinski
Eagle-Tribune
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All previous lessons can be viewed in our new FOI Guide.
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Justin Silverman of the New England First Amendment Coalition said he’d never heard of anything like this, and said that the city writing it off as a rare occurrence doesn’t make it any better.
“Having few instances actually brings up more questions than you would have otherwise,” he told the Herald when informed of this practice. “A question I have is, how were they picking those instances? . . . This type of policy works against the free flow of information and works against the spirit of the public-records law." [...]
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Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, says he’s hearing more anecdotal stories of newsrooms receiving subpoenas for reporting materials, though he says he has no data to back it up. He says a universal shield law would give newsrooms certainty about their degree of protection.
“We have a class online titled, ‘What to do if you receive a subpoena,’” Silverman said. “We try to educate newsrooms about what their rights are and good practices within their newsrooms. Occasionally we’ll hear of a newsroom receiving a subpoena and they’ll comply right away not knowing exactly what their rights are or how they can respond or push back.” [...]
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According to Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, using journalists for prosecutorial purposes raises free press red flags, but that Tong so far did not appear to have overstepped his authority.
“No subpoenas have yet been issued,” Silverman wrote in an email to CT Examiner. “Attorney General Tong has only sent a preservation letter that, by itself, doesn’t compel disclosure of any materials.” [...]
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“While much-needed improvements were made to the public records law in 2016, more change is needed,” said Justin Silverman, the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition. “It’s time to consider additional reforms that would give the public more power to enforce the law. The solution may be as simple as giving the supervisor of records authority to sue agencies on behalf of requesters.”
“There are many lessons we can learn from what has worked—and what has not—in other states,” Silverman said. “We need to start taking a closer look at what more can be done here in Massachusetts.” [...]
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MORE FOI & FIRST AMENDMENT NEWS
Regional / National
Social Media, First Amendment
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Connecticut
Maine
Open Meetings, Freedom of Speech
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Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Investigative Reporting, Libel
'Banned Concepts' Law
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Rhode Island
Vermont
Religious School Tuition, Public Funding
EB-5 Records
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Thank You to Our Supporters |
NEFAC appreciates the support of all its donors and volunteers. In particular, we would like to thank the following Leadership Circle donors ($10,000+) and Major Supporters ($2,500-$9,999) for their contributions:
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LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
Rhode Island Foundation
Hearst Conn. Media Group
The Boston Globe
Paul and Ann Sagan
The Robertson Foundation
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MAJOR SUPPORTERS
Boston University
WBUR-Boston
Academy of New England Journalists
SPJ Foundation
Genie Gannett for the First Amendment Museum
Linda Pizzuti Henry
Connecticut Public
GBH-Boston
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