Browsed by
Tag: free press

Free Press Helps Make America Great

Free Press Helps Make America Great

Edward Fitzpatrick, RWU director of media and public relations, a New England First Amendment Coalition and Common Cause Rhode Island board member, and a former Providence Journal columnist: The First Amendment needs allies. It needs people like you: Republicans, Democrats and independent Rhode Islanders. It needs people who aren’t going to buy the self-serving “Fake News” narrative being spun by President Trump. It needs people who aren’t going to applaud when the President of the United States uses his bully pulpit…

Read More Read More

U.S. must remain beacon as world jails more journalists

U.S. must remain beacon as world jails more journalists

Edward Fitzpatrick, RWU director of media and public relations, a New England First Amendment Coalition and Common Cause Rhode Island board member, and a former Providence Journal columnist: The bayonet scar on Omar Bah’s left hand reminds him of the dangers faced by journalists worldwide. The scar reminds him of what dictators and other authoritarian leaders think of a free press. The scar reminds him of how crucial it is for the United States to stand as a beacon of press…

Read More Read More

Net Neutrality Protects Free Flow of Ideas

Net Neutrality Protects Free Flow of Ideas

Edward Fitzpatrick, RWU director of media and public relations, a New England First Amendment Coalition and Common Cause Rhode Island board member, and a former Providence Journal columnist: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wants you to believe that killing net neutrality would be a big win for the little guy. The former Verizon lawyer wants you to believe he’s acting in the best interest of the public – not in the interest of big broadband companies such as Verizon, AT&T…

Read More Read More

Exercising First Amendment rights is a team sport

Exercising First Amendment rights is a team sport

Rachel Bimonte, junior journalism major at Roger Williams University: At a New England First Amendment Coalition event on Feb. 24, Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan began her keynote address by thanking the many journalism students in attendance, including eight students from Roger Williams University. “I admire the fact that you are making the foray into our somewhat treacherous waters at this particular time,” Sullivan said. “We need you more than ever.” Sullivan received the Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award during…

Read More Read More

Enemy of the American People? Undermining a free press

Enemy of the American People? Undermining a free press

Edward Fitzpatrick, RWU director of media and public relations, New England First Amendment Coalition board member and former Providence Journal columnist: Absolutely! The Trump administration appears to be springing more leaks than the Oroville Dam spillway. And that’s a good thing. Otherwise, the public would be drowning in the cascade of “alternative facts” pouring from the White House. Already, the leaks have produced concrete results. For example, Rhode Island’s own Michael Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser…

Read More Read More

RI can help build a free press in The Gambia

RI can help build a free press in The Gambia

Omar Bah, founder and executive director of the Refugee Dream Center, in Providence, who earned a master’s degree in public administration from RWU in 2014: I only have to look at the bayonet scar on my left hand to remember how Gambian President Yahya Jammeh treats a free press: The dictator’s soldiers beat, kicked and tortured me when I attempted to cover a secret trial in The Gambia, my native country. And I barely escaped with my life, fleeing the…

Read More Read More