Supreme Court Justice Kennedy Teaches Wrong Lesson On Freedom Of The Press
from the except-for-when-it-comes-to-supreme-court-justices dept
You would think that a Supreme Court Justice (and the people who work for one) would know better than to tell any sort of news publication -- even a high school newspaper -- that he needed to approve any articles written about a speech he gave, but that appears to be exactly what happened with Justice Anthony Kennedy and a recent speech to Dalton High School students in Manhattan. The people who work for Kennedy are now trying to claim that this was just to make sure the quotes were accurate, but those who work for the school paper say they were under the impression they needed full approval of the article first. It's amazing that whoever made the request (whether Kennedy himself or some staffer) didn't realize how bad that would look, especially from a Justice who has always been a strong proponent of strong First Amendment rights...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: anthony kennedy, first amendment, freedom of the press, high school newspaper, journalism, supreme court
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Deny to authorization of approval of forbidding y/n?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ooops
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Do as I say, not as I do
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Do as I say, not as I do
They have a new one there:
rule 1: we do what we want
rule 2: make life hell for everyone else.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Do as I say, not as I do
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nothing is free
Kennedy is promoting a new model called "speech for rent". He just wanted to check the amount of "Kennedy speak" in the article in order to price it correctly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The guy has every right to not give speeches, not give interviews. He does these things but just wants to be able to approve what is written about him? What is the big deal there? It isn't a free speech issue.
If people don't agree with his policy, then he doesn't give the speech or interview. That is his constitutional right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
But they didn't, and he chose to speak. They can write whatever they want, without needing to ask him.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
With your reputation on the line, would you like to be misquoted by a 16-year-old? Then if people attack you, you'll have to place blame on the kid for being wrong and make things look even worse.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_School
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dept question
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Dept question
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
He wants control over how he is portrayed, so he either gets approval or he doesn't give the speech. It is just that simple, nothing at all wrong with that.
Tiger Woods wants to control how he is portrayed, so he gives very few interviews. People are still free to write about him, but without his help. Same with the justice. There is nothing wrong with that.
Steve Carlton did the same thing, for which reporters wrote about how bad a guy he was when he wasn't.
Seems media types think that they have a god given right to have access to everything, when in fact people are free to tell them to take a hike. That tends to get their panties in a wad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Sure, if this was agreed to ahead of time. It's not clear from the article IMO if that was the case. If no such agreement was made ahead of time, this was absolutely inappropriate to demand screening the article. If there was such an agreement, it was questionable at best of the school to agree to it. Though it would be predictable that a high school would agree to almost anything for a speaker such as a Supreme Court justice.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who Left That Banana Peel
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"..trying to claim that this was just to make sure the quotes were accurate"
The next time Anthony Kennedy gives a speech.. Someone needs to hire that reporter from Iraq to throw his shoes at him. You remember? The same awesome, cool reporter that threw his shoes at, then, president Bush during his speech. Always a big favorite of mine on "YouTube.com".
;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wonder why?
He sets up conditions for giving a speech or an interview, when someone goes against those conditions (which are agreed upon prior to the speech) you wonder why there is a problem?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
re: Who Left That Banana Peel
Kennedy has it backwards: Fact-checking is the responsiblity--and the right--of the publisher. Terms for speaking in public or giving an interview are generally negotiated up front, not afterward. With previous negotiation, once the words are spoken, they're fair game.
The high school, and especially the student editor(s) are on the hook for allowing themselves to be intimidated by the title of a high office. We Americans tend to forget our rights in circumstances like this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: re: Who Left That Banana Peel
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In other words, this is totally ridiculous. You do not bite the hand that feeds you. No "first amendment right" is served by allowing an extremely rare guest speaker vet his comments in a paper with a circulation of 1500; additionally, I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about this in the school's government. These are not unsophisticated students; they are future judges and business magnates.
Tl;dr
Dalton's job is to make sure incredible speakers like this keep coming; not piss them off over nearly irrelevant first amendment concerns. Also, first amendment does NOT apply to a private school's newspaper.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]