Ladue's free speech legacy

A month after former Ladue Mayor Edith Spink died, the legal legacy of her fight against a little, anti-war sign provided the basis of a federal court decision striking down the St. Louis law that banned a large mural that opposed abuse of eminent domain. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Where to draw the ethical line on hacking?

I’m shocked, shocked there’s hacking going on in Britain’s tabloid News of the World.  Who would ever imagine that Rupert Murdoch’s journalists could sink so low?  Imagine, hacking attempts by the paper into cell phones belonging to relatives of victims of criminal and terrorist attacks. There seems wide-spread agreement that such hacking of murder victims…

More Grover Cleveland controversy

It seems as if former President Grover Cleveland is in the news once more. Recently, as GJR reported [See History or His Story?], how a journalist/author revised history of Cleveland’s supposed fathering of a child out of wedlock. (It’s unclear whether or not former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took note of this issue.)
Now, NPR has reported on how Cleveland kept from the press – and the American public – his operation.

Is more opinion right for the Gray Lady?

New York Times Public Editor Arthur S. Brisbane has recently commented on the New York Times’ decision to replace its Sunday Week in Review section with a new Sunday Review section. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/opinion/sunday/03pubed.html?_r=1&ref=thepubliceditor While Brisbane says the new section is “a work in progress and will evolve,” it seems the Times apparently is defining more opinion…