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Full-Text Articles in Law
Obstruction Of Journalism, Erin C. Carroll
Obstruction Of Journalism, Erin C. Carroll
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Identifying oneself as press used to be a near-grant of immunity. It meant safer passage through all manner of dangerous terrain. But today, being recognizable as a journalist may be more likely to make one a target.
Physical attacks against journalists in the United States increased nearly 1,300 percent in 2020. The rate of online violence against journalists is also soaring. This violence is aimed almost entirely at women, people of color, non-Christians, and non-straight journalists. It silences voices already relegated to the edges. Rather than letting our national conversation branch, the violence attempts to shear it to a white, …
A Free Press Without Democracy, Erin C. Carroll
A Free Press Without Democracy, Erin C. Carroll
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
For several decades, the American press has been fighting for its economic survival. But while it has been consumed with this effort, the political threat to a free press has grown perhaps greater than the economic one. Democracy is eroding globally, including in the United States. Given the importance of a free press to democracy, the press needs to more urgently consider how it maintains its freedom as erosion persists.
This Article sets out a framework for American press priorities in this pivotal moment. It suggests that to resist and weather a turn to autocracy, the press must endeavor to …
How We Talk About The Press, Erin C. Carroll
How We Talk About The Press, Erin C. Carroll
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
In 2017, the term “fake news” was so popular that it received the “Word of the Year” honor from the American Dialect Society. Since then, its popularity may have abated some, but its use persists. Most obviously, anti-press speakers weaponize the term fake news to undermine journalists and the press as an institution. Perhaps more surprisingly, however, the term is also in regular rotation among many who would seem to support a free and independent press, including scholars, teachers, and journalists themselves.
The continued and often-uncritical use of fake news should worry us. As thinkers across disciplines have recognized for …
Making News: Balancing Newsworthiness And Privacy In The Age Of Algorithms, Erin C. Carroll
Making News: Balancing Newsworthiness And Privacy In The Age Of Algorithms, Erin C. Carroll
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
In deciding privacy lawsuits against media defendants, courts have for decades deferred to the media. They have given it wide berth to determine what is newsworthy and so, what is protected under the First Amendment. And in doing so, they have often spoken reverently of the editorial process and journalistic decision-making.
Yet, in just the last several years, news production and consumption has changed dramatically. As we get more of our news from digital and social media sites, the role of information gatekeeper is shifting from journalists to computer engineers, programmers, and app designers. The algorithms that the latter write …