This is excerpted from an article published in the St. Louis Law Journal. Sableman first called attention to the broad redaction law when it was enacted in 2023. GJR played a lead role in bringing it to wider attention, leading to a court decision striking down provisions as unconstitutional. To implement the recent court decision…
The journalist’s guide to the federal courts reminds reporters that “the media perform an important and constitutionally protected role by informing and educating the public.” It is a time-honored role, a duty to be the public’s watchdog on institutions, including courts. But if you’re a Missouri journalist and you subscribe to that education/watchdog theory of…
Perfectly objective journalism seems like the perfectly moral life—unattainable by ordinary humans. But recent experience has reaffirmed the importance of the classic journalistic virtues of open-minded fact-finding, and fair, accurate, and complete reporting. Today we have the most technically sophisticated data-rich information system ever. But it hasn’t satisfied our need for what Walter Lippmann called…
Artificial intelligence ought to help journalists and other content creators. It’s modern and efficient. Feed it data, tell it the subjects you want covered and watch as the finished articles pop up on your screen. Make a few tweaks and send them out. Sit back and watch the profits come in. What could go wrong? Everything —…
The ways people communicate change over time. And our laws, including the First Amendment, adapt to those changes. But it isn’t clear that recent changes and trends are adapting to our needs for truthful and reliable information, and for outlets of dissent, reform, and renewal, within today’s electronic communications environment. When the Bill of Rights…