Archives for First Amendment Alert
Birmingham, Alabama- “60 Minutes” Reporter Subpoenaed in Fraud Trial
January 18, 2005
PEN USA’s First Amendment Action Committee is concerned that CBS reporter Mike Wallace has been subpoenaed for the trial of a man he interviewed in 2003.
Springfield, Illinois: New Policy Could Gag Whistleblowers
January 18, 2005
PEN USA’s First Amendment Committee is concerned by a new directive prohibiting employees of the Illinois State Police from talking to news reporters. Although it was meant to “reinforce existing confidentiality rules,” we, and other critics of this policy, see it essentially as a gag order on potential whistleblowers.
Berkeley, California: Professor Fired After Publishing Controversial Paper
January 05, 2005
PEN USA’s First Amendment Action Committee is concerned by the actions of University of California, Berkeley’s Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau who denied assistant professor Ignacio Chapela tenure, and later fired him, after Chapela published an anti-biotechnology paper.
Missouri: Company Uses Lawsuit as Threat to Silence Opposition
December 21, 2004
PEN USA is disturbed by the trend of defamation suits against individuals who speak out against companies. The latest example is of Tom Diehl, who won a case against a proposed garbage holding pen in suburban St. Louis.
However, after the case against the proposal was won, Tom Diehl was slapped with a $5 million lawsuit filed by the trash company, Fred Weber, Inc.; one of the largest road builders in the state. The company can definitely afford the libel and slander suit against Tom Diehl. The suit is apparently due to Diehl and the opponents’ characterization of the firm as “trash terrorists,” which the company says suggests the company has killed Americans and is bent on killing more.
Chicago: Book Advertisements Banned on Transit
December 06, 2004
PEN USA denounces the actions of Viacom Outdoor Marketing in its decision to ban posters advertising Mumia Abu-Jamal’s new book from the subways in Chicago.