a Better Bubble™
Dear Friend of Press Freedom:
Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has, by our count, paid at least $15,000 in fines for refusing to reveal a confidential source. Plus, the Pentagon tries to hide millions of records from the American public, and a win in Puerto Rico for the press.
Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department is pushing a proposal that would exempt “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) from the Freedom of Information Act. Given the rampant abuse of CUI markings across the department — and the fact that FOIA already shields both properly classified material and sensitive unclassified data — this is just the latest move by the Pentagon to escape accountability.
That’s why Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) led a broad coalition of transparency organizations, press freedom advocates, and watchdog groups in urging four Congressional committees to reject the proposal, which FPF Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper wrote about for MS NOW.
Some good news: On Tuesday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling preventing the enforcement of the so-called Fake News Law in Puerto Rico, which would have criminalized spreading false information about public emergencies. Two journalists who had challenged the law argued that it would dissuade journalists from reporting developing news for fear of being prosecuted if the facts shifted. FPF, along with the University of Georgia’s First Amendment Clinic, Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and PEN American Center filed a legal brief in support of the journalists.
“The First Circuit got this exactly right,” FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “Recent U.S. history clearly demonstrates that ambiguous and overbroad statutes restricting speech will inevitably be abused to crack down on dissent and journalism. It’s a question of when, not if.”
Much has been made about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions during a contentious congressional hearing last week about the COVID-19 pandemic. But Fauci’s work can only be scrutinized because he preserved over a thousand pages of records on government servers — the kind of recordkeeping the Trump administration seems to have forcefully abandoned.
In an op-ed in MS NOW, FPF’s Harper describes the government-wide assault on record preservation and accountability that contrasts sharply with the Fauci records dump.
There’s been a lot of posturing about transparency by legislators in the U.S. Virgin Islands, journalist Shirley L. Smith, a native of the islands, wrote for FPF. But these same officials have neglected to strengthen the territory’s archaic and ineffective public records laws, despite scrutiny over some of their relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, who owned two islands there.
Smith writes that it’s past time to change the public records laws to hold officials personally liable for illegally withholding public records, impose stringent penalties on violators, implement effective enforcement, and require agencies to produce records by a specific deadline.
Florida was once celebrated for having some of the nation’s strongest public records and open meetings laws. But a disturbing pattern of official stonewalling, secrecy, and retaliation against critics indicates that the state has abandoned its commitment to free expression and open government. Most disturbing: A new law that gives state officials the power to designate organizations as domestic or foreign terrorist groups and penalizes “promoting” them, which some reporters fear could be used to punish writing about banned groups.
Bobby Block, executive director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, wrote for FPF about what’s happening in the “Free State of Florida.”
The FOIA Advisory Committee just wrapped up its latest term, and it’s got ideas for how to strengthen this vital but imperiled federal records law. We’ll hear from three committee members on the proposals and how they could help journalists’ investigations. Join us next Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 2 p.m. ET to learn more.
What we’re reading Justice Dept. subpoenas Times freelancer in effort to identify sources The New York TimesOn the heels of a batch of failed subpoenas to New York Times journalists and their relatives, the paper revealed that yet another reporter, a freelancer who reported on a failed Navy SEAL mission in North Korea, has been fighting a subpoena since February. Congress needs to pass the PRESS Act and end these alarming attempts to commandeer and surveil the press.
David Ellison: In defense of the Paramount-Warner deal The New York TimesWhat a great platform for Paramount CEO David Ellison to publicly deny promising President Donald Trump a CNN overhaul or $20 million in free advertising in exchange for merger approvals, or to speak out against the president’s bullying of journalists he employs — weird he didn’t do any of that.
‘60 Minutes’ Epstein banking story didn’t air after Sharyn Alfonsi exit, Dem senator claims MediaiteDespite Ellison’s NYT op-ed and the rest of his and his father’s “poor billionaires” charm offensive, the news pages aren’t cooperating — every week we learn more about the scope of editorial interference at CBS under their watch.
Israeli strike that killed journalist in Lebanon was war crime, say rights groups The GuardianThe evidence is clear that the Israeli military knew, or should have, that Lebanese journalists Zeinab Faraj and Amal Khalil were civilians, “but attacked them anyway, and then prevented paramedics from rescuing them for hours,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. Meanwhile, Ellison’s CBS hired a producer known for covering up Israel’s U.S.-funded massacre of their colleagues in Gaza.
Film producers warn Paramount-Warner merger could restrict access to news archives ReutersLike documentaries? Then you probably don’t want the two largest privately held news archives — the lifeblood of documentary film — under the same ownership. Especially when that ownership kisses up to politicians by censoring their critics.
District 4 is investigating an altercation that left a man injured on August 6, 2026 in the Columbus Square neighborhood.
The post Man Cut During Altercation in Columbus Square appeared first on St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
stLouIST