Illinois wiretapping law restrictive at best

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At a time when millions of Americans have a cell phone with video and audio capability and when videotapes of police misconduct often are the stuff of news reports, Illinois is leading the nation in prosecuting citizens who tape officers in public. Illinois has one of the three most restrictive eavesdropping laws in the country, along with Maryland and Massachusetts. And Illinois police and prosecutors are not shy about using the law to punish the taping of arrests and interrogations.

Emanuel’s battle-of-the-ballot trumps all issues in Chicago mayoral race

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Just when it looked like the Chicago news media were fixing to focus on the issues – wham! – the Illinois Appellate Court tossed the frontrunner in Chicago’s mayoral race off the Feb. 22 primary ballot. True, that appellate decision only lasted for three days—on Jan. 27 the state Supreme Court restored Rahm Emanuel to the ballot. But the off-again, on-again battle of the ballot has made it hard for everyone—press and public—to re-focus on the stuff that really matters.

Media of Yesteryear

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Bogart Quotes Pulitzer in “Deadline – USA” By Eric Mink Journalism wallows in one existential crisis after another. Take your pick: Internet technology is killing the news profession; the Great Recession is suffocating a business model already on life support; concentration of ownership is destroying media’s vital competitive drive; the ethical vacuum around Fox News’…

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Juan Williams – The Macro View

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To fire or not to fire, that is the question.  And recently it seems as if an increasing number of news organizations are deciding to pull the plug on journalists who have voiced their own opinions outside the walls of their employers’ corporations. White House correspondent Helen Thomas said Israel should “get the hell out…

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