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Tag: New England First Amendment Coalition

In Rhode Island, it’s more like “Sunshine: Weak”

In Rhode Island, it’s more like “Sunshine: Weak”

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: Rhode Island celebrated “Sunshine Week” recently, but when it comes to open government in Rhode Island these days, the more accurate description might be “Sunshine: Weak.” The Providence Journal detailed the dark days in a March 10 special report, “Transparency Under Assault: Government Secrecy in Rhode Island.” Reporters Tom Mooney and Amanda…

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ProPublica editor: Economics biggest threat to free press

ProPublica editor: Economics biggest threat to free press

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: BOSTON – ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg wrote a grand total of two news stories during his college career, yet he somehow managed to land an internship right after graduation at The Providence Journal-Bulletin. Engelberg also wrote a bunch of sports stories in college, so when his beat-up old car chugged into Providence…

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Budget, staff cuts pose the main threat to our free press

Budget, staff cuts pose the main threat to our free press

BOSTON — Newsrooms are slashing budgets and shedding reporters, posing an even greater threat to the free press than the president’s near-daily attacks on the media, ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg told the New England First Amendment Coalition. “In 1998 there were more than 400,000 people employed by newspapers across the country,” Engelberg said. “Today, we’re at 140,000 and dropping.” Engelberg received the 2019 Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award at the annual NEFAC awards luncheon in Boston on Feb. 15. Named…

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Student journalists win battle against censorship

Student journalists win battle against censorship

Britney Dixon, RWU senior majoring in journalism: BOSTON — Exercising freedom of the press should be an easy act, no matter what age. For student journalists at Burlington (Vt.) High School, this was not the case. In 2018, editors from The Register, Burlington High School’s student-run newspaper, published an article stating that a guidance director at the school was under investigation and faced disciplinary charges from the Vermont Agency of Education. “We all made the decision together,” Editor Halle Newman…

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Documents provide insight into the mind of a murderer

Documents provide insight into the mind of a murderer

Megan Willgoos, RWU junior majoring in journalism: BOSTON — Five years after Dave Altimari filed a request for the records of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, the reporter accepted the Freedom of Information Award from the New England First Amendment Coalition on behalf of the Hartford Courant. On Dec. 9, 2018, Altimari and Josh Kovner published a story about Lanza based on more than 1,000 pages they pried loose in a long legal battle that ended with a 5-0 Connecticut…

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Fall River mayor took wrong cue with “Fake News” attack

Fall River mayor took wrong cue with “Fake News” attack

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: If President Donald Trump is teaching a new generation of politicians how to attack the reporters that cover them, then Fall River Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II is a star pupil. And if the late Providence Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. had ever offered a master class on how to respond…

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U.S. free press beacon dimmed

U.S. free press beacon dimmed

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 President of the United States praised a member of Congress for assaulting a journalist. Think about the message that sends to the world. Now add in that President Trump had just spent days publicly grasping for ways to avoid blaming Saudi Arabia for the gruesome murder of another journalist. And then,…

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Seizing reporter’s phone, email records is an ‘ominous step’

Seizing reporter’s phone, email records is an ‘ominous step’

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: YouGottaBeKiddingMe. I mean, perhaps it comes as no surprise that prosecutors in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporters’ phone and email records as part of a leak investigation. But no one appreciates the danger of such a step more than James Risen, the…

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Farce and tragedy of 38 Studios warrants full disclosure

Farce and tragedy of 38 Studios warrants full disclosure

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: It is our Watergate. The 38 Studios debacle might not have produced a constitutional crisis or a legal battle (over the Nixon White House tapes) that went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. But Curt Schilling’s ill-fated video-game venture certainly produced a monumental crisis here in Rhode…

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Sinclair script unintentionally undermines trust, underscores dangers

Sinclair script unintentionally undermines trust, underscores dangers

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 bad news is that local TV news anchors from coast to coast stared into the camera and read from a script, parroting the “fake” news mantra of a press-bashing president. The good news, such as it is, is that perhaps there was no better way to vividly illustrate a largely academic debate…

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