US NEWS EDITORS FIND IT INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO DEFEND FIRST AMENDMENT
▻https://shadowproof.com/2016/04/21/us-news-editors-find-it-increasingly-difficult-to-defend-first-amendmen
A survey of editors from print and online publications found most news organizations are weaker in their ability to defend the right to freedom of the press than they were ten years ago.
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Around half of news editors indicated their news organizations were “no longer prepared to go to court to preserve First Amendment freedoms.” Eighty-nine percent indicated this was because defending the First Amendment is too expensive.
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“Government agencies are well aware that we do not have the money to fight. More and more, their first response to our records request is, ‘Sue us if you want to get the records,’” one editor stated.
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State legislatures throughout the United States frequently exempt themselves from public records laws, making it even more burdensome for news organizations to obtain records.
However, there also has been somewhat of a shift in news media. “Watchdog journalism” has declined substantially. With “less investigative work,” there are less incentives to wage legal battles for records.
“So many newsrooms do not cover government to the extent they used to. Instead, they are focusing on ‘passion’ or ‘franchise’ topics, and they often are not topics that require record-based reporting,” one editor responded.
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Given the lack of resources to defend the First Amendment, it is easy to presume many news editors would err on the side of caution and not pursue journalism, which could result in legal liability. In fact, back in 2014, a survey by two Indiana University professors found fewer and fewer U.S. journalists believe using “confidential business or government documents without authorization” is acceptable.