Remember the day. Remember the time.
Thursday, March 30th. 5:03pm.
At least that was the date and time for me. I had just come out of the quarterly board meeting of the New York Press Association. Ironically, during that meeting, we had no idea of any breaking news. It’s likely the news didn’t break until we adjourned.
Perhaps, given the participants, the timing of the release was out of respect.
Not likely.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the event I’m referring to is the first time there was ever Continue Reading “‘A Republic, If You Can Keep It’”
Democracy Dies On The Blackboard
Perhaps because the phrase originated in a judicial ruling that echoed a modern myth about the role of newspapers in our country’s history. Judge Damon J. Keith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote in his opinion for the court in Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 303 F.3d 681 (6th Cir. 2002): “Democracies die behind closed doors. The First Amendment, through a free press, protects the people’s right to know that their government acts fairly, lawfully, and accurately in deportation proceedings. When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people.”
The opinion, and many subsequent interpretations of it, overstate the importance of Continue Reading “Democracy Dies On The Blackboard”