Trip to the southeast

Don't know how much blogging I will be doing later this week, as I will be heading down to the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium. I am presenting a paper on prior restraint to a group of media law scholars. My paper is titled "Death of Procedural Safeguards: Is Content Neutrality Really the Ultimate Good of the Prior Restraint Doctrine?" It explores whether the Supreme Court's anointment of content neutrality as the primary value of the First Amendment generally, and prior restraint in particular, is appropriate and desirable.

Supreme speculation

Interesting article in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune speculating on the potential nomination of Tenth Circuit Judge Michael McConnell, of Salt Lake City, to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it's a newspaper's job to speculate, then this article does is pretty well done -- not only does it ruminate about who President Bush might select should Chief Justice Rehnquist retire, but it also gives credit to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for telling President Clinton to appoint Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

Hunter S. Thompson

I enjoyed reading this article in The New York Times about gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

Ethics in news coverage of Middle East

A New York Times editor acknowledged at BYU Wednesday that while conservative critics lambast the Times for being liberal, the majority of reporters and editors at the paper are "guilty of liberalism" in the broad sense of that term.

Deputy foreign editor Ethan Bronner said the Times staff is not, for the most part, very religious and tends to be skeptical of the notion of "received truth," including when that notion comes from government.

Journalists at the Times believe that "being skeptical is a good thing," Bronner told an audience of BYU students and faculty members in the Harold B. Lee Library.

Bronner, a former reporter and editorial page writer who won a Pulitzer as part of the Times' coverage of al-Qaeda in 2001, talked about the ethical issues involved in covering the Middle East.

Bronner discussed the internal debate at the Times about when to use the word "terrorism." One former Jerusalem correspondent discontinued use of the term altogether in his stories because of potential political implications. The correspondent felt the term was too loaded because a violent act against Israelis in the "occupied territories" of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that might be considered terrorism by Israelis might be considered patriotism by Palestinians.

Eventually, the correspondent resumed using the term in specific situations, such as with violent acts against Israelis within the borders of Israel before 1948.

At lunch, I found Bronner to be highly personable and knowledgeable on many topics, including the Supreme Court. He authored an award-winning book in 1989 on the Robert Bork nomination called "Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America."

NY Times on campus

Speaking of The New York Times, I will be eating lunch today with foreign editor Ethan Bronner, who is visiting BYU to deliver a lecture and meet with students and faculty.

NY Times on Mexican politics

The New York Times published a fascinating story today detailing how Mexican immigrants in the United States are playing an increasingly large role in the financial and political arena in their home country. In an excellent interactive feature available with the story, reporter Ginger Thompson said, "Southern California is the capital of the Mexican diaspora."

D.C. Circuit rejects reporters' claims of privilege

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in an 83-page opinion available here, has rejected arguments by The New York Times and Time Magazine that a federal judge erred in ordering those publications' respective reporters jailed for refusing to disclose the identity of a confidential source. The Times provides coverage here.

Murder conviction affirmed

The Utah Supreme Court today affirmed the conviction of Paul Allen, a former AT&T sales representative convicted of aggravated murder in connection with the death of his wife. Allen reportedly hired a hit man to commit the murder in the couple's North Salt Lake apartment in 1996. The state high court rejected Allen's arguments that the trial judge improperly failed to exclude certain evidence against him and improperly failed to declare a mistrial for juror misconduct after one of the jurors heard from her husband that Allen's defense attorney had moved from a mistrial based on certain testimony.

Utah Supreme Court on candidate

The Utah Supreme Court held today, in Summer Pugh v. Draper City, that Draper correctly excluded a municipal candidate from a November 2003 election for failing to timely file financial disclosure statements.

Gagging the lawyers

The Deseret Morning News this week published a story quoting me about a recent order issued by a state court judge forbidding lawyers in a high-profile criminal case from talking to news reporters. The story was later picked up by the Associated Press and appeared yesterday on the CNN/Sports Illustrated website.

Government hides pet ownership information

This story in the Deseret Morning News illustrates what happens when government secrecy goes too far. It used to be that pet ownership information wasn't so guarded; a few years ago I did a story on popular pet names (there were several dogs named "Ralph," "Fred" and "Steve") and I was able to get pet ownership information. I even discovered the names of pets of high-profile individuals like Stephen Covey (a golden retriever named "Princess Buttercup").

Suit over search warrants

A Provo man has sued Utah's 4th District and 3rd District courts over their practice of not maintaining search warrants and supporting affidavits after the warrants are signed by judges and given to law enforcement officers for execution.

Lawyers out of control

A Utah lawyer threatened to show up for oral arguments at the Utah Supreme Court this week wearing jeans and a T-shirt, according to this account in the Deseret Morning News.

Vacancy on court

There will soon be a vacancy on the Utah Court of Appeals due to the pending retirement of Judge Norman Jackson. If you are over 30, a Utah resident for five years, a U.S. citizen and admitted to practice law in Utah, apply here.

More on Solomon

Yet another federal court has declared the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional. The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted summary judgment to the Yale Law School faculty in a Solomon Amendment challenge on First Amendment grounds (opinion available in two parts here and here).

No more perks for judges

USA Today in an editorial criticizes federal judges who accept gifts and invitations to posh resorts for conferences. The editorial cites the salaries of federal trial judges ($162,100 per year) and Supreme Court justices ($199,200) and hints that the pay should be enough without the perks. But, clearly, most federal judges could double their annual salaries by practicing law in the private sector.

Magazine for students

The Deseret Morning News today reports on a Utah Valley couple's purchase of Schooled Magazine, aimed at BYU and UVSC students. The magazine's editor-in-chief is a former coworker of mine; actually, I filled in for her as assistant city editor when she went on maternity leave from the Daily Herald.

Inside scoop

The Salt Lake Tribune reports today that "Kevin Eubank [is] leaving KUTV." Eubank is a weatherman who is leaving his TV gig to pursue business opportunities elsewhere. As noted at the end of the story, KUTV (Ch. 2) and the Tribune have a "news-sharing partnership." Although the story says Eubank hasn't been on the station's broadcasts for two weeks and his contract expired yesterday, Eubank's photo still appears at the top of KUTV's web page.

Regarding "news-sharing partnerships" between TV news operations and newspapers, both parties are often reluctant to share information. The print folks don't want to scoop themselves by giving something to TV that will be on air before the papers hit the streets. I was in south Florida recently to visit a major newspaper there, and the understanding that exists between print and broadcast people centers around the print reporters giving up their information in exchange for the television reporters providing the gory details on any car wrecks, which they seem to cover very well.