Articles by Paul McMasters

Paul K. McMasters Ombudsman, First Amendment Center E-mail: pmcmasters@fac.org

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Most Americans are always ready to tick off any number of reasons they value their privacy. One of the most important reasons does not come quickly to mind, however, and that is how important personal privacy is to freedom of expression.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

When it comes to free-speech protections for federal employees, the Constitution sometimes isn’t quite enough.

Monday, January 02, 2006

An increasingly formidable barrier of official secrecy has made it very difficult for the press to report on covert government activities against its citizens. But such reporting has never been more important.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Because nearly every matter of consequence and controversy in our society eventually winds up in court, Americans have a vital interest in staying informed about how well justice is delivered.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Handheld devices such as cell phones and digital music players offer much in the way of features and convenience. Most also are capable of providing adult content: pornography to go.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Without an elaborate system for circumventing secrecy and information management and manipulation, there would be no way or no one to hold accountable those entrusted with our government.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Defenders of criminal-libel laws insist that they are needed to ensure public order and government stability. If those rationales ever had any validity, they no longer do. Instead, such laws are a pernicious assault on our First Amendment principles.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

One does not have to endorse or defend anti-war or anti-military sentiments raised in peaceful protests to recognize the risk that suppressing dissenting voices poses for a vital democracy. Whether stifling such voices is done in the name of good order or disagreement with the message, such actions reflect a fear of dissent.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Sooner or later, the nation's most vexing disagreements over our most vital issues wind up before the Supreme Court. None quite penetrates to the core of our democratic being more than those involving First Amendment rights and values.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

We are much more circumspect when we threaten journalists who irritate government officials or confound government procedures. We try to follow the law and we respect the Constitution. But we still find ways to send journalists to jail.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Pornography fighters and some pornography producers have joined forces to oppose a seemingly uncontroversial proposal to create a special .xxx domain on the Internet to help protect children (and others) from adult content

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Given the strong views Penny Nance has expressed as an activist and lobbyist and in congressional testimony, her arrival at the FCC may signal an invigorated FCC campaign against allegedly indecent programming.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

A steamy snippet of a new video game leaves lawmakers hot under the collar, and could lead to the turning of a voluntary ratings system into a political tool to limit free speech.

Friday, July 15, 2005

The Patriot Act is only a fraction of the secrecy problem. Door after door in our open society is closing, generally without notice, let alone protest, as we try to secure our nation from attack.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Last week, the courts delivered a one-two punch to journalists’ ability to protect their sources – and to the public’s right to know about federal officials abusing a public trust in one instance and the disappearance of nuclear secrets in another.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

There is more than a trace of irony in the fact that the most freedom-loving people on the planet have decided collectively that some words, in some situations, are just too threatening to good order and comfort to allow.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Most of us believe that schools should serve as something of a sanctuary from the coarseness that permeates our culture. The trick is to find a way to teach the principles of freedom while limiting the practice of those principles.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

There are some hopeful signs that both sides can find a way around this seeming impasse over when and how to use anonymous sources.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Proposals for restrictions on access to information continue to muddle and muzzle public discourse, whether invoked for privacy, security or, ironically, for "freedom."

Friday, April 22, 2005

As the tools for tailoring all communication to our individual comfort zones become more sophisticated and available, we will have the power to convert everything that comes our way to just another version of what we already know and believe. That would be most unwise.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Ever since that momentary glimpse of a part of a breast at a Super Bowl halftime show, the champions of decency have grown more bold, unmindful of the effect on Americans’ freedom of speech and freedom of choice.

Thursday, March 31, 2005

While censors twist themselves into logic pretzels by saying the darnedest things, the self-censors limit their creative rights by obsessing about offense.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

How does a nation that celebrates the idea of openness find itself shackled to a government information system that has a default setting of secrecy?

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Those who push for laws based on exaggerated science and a low opinion of the moral and emotional fiber of young people and their parents’ judgment should think through the logic of their efforts.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Americans must insist that government leaders manage sensitive information without trying to control public opinion or participation.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

We Americans may have lost our sense of humor but we certainly have a firm grip on our highly developed sense of offense. The result? We’re putting an ever-shorter leash on expression.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Any attempt to criminalize so-called hate speech, even that of the terrorist, is unwise, unworkable and unconstitutional.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

What should be sobering to us are the instances in which censorship in closed societies abroad and censorship at home become indistinguishable from one another.

Friday, December 10, 2004

On Dec. 15, the First Amendment will be 213 years old. It is a good time to review First Amendment developments and issues in the news over the past year as one way of measuring the amendment's vitality after more than two centuries of service to democratic values.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

For federal prosecutors, demanding that journalists burn their confidential sources is invariably a winning proposition. It doesn’t work out that well for journalists – or the public.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

The long, contentious election campaign may have revealed a citizenry deeply divided on the issues and candidates, but Americans seem to be fairly united when it comes to declaring one sure loser: the press.

Friday, October 22, 2004

In the last three years, this White House appears to have declared all-out war on journalism, and it now has entered its take-plenty-of-prisoners stage.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

These days, a rough word or reference, or anything else that gives offense on radio or television, will be bandied about for months on end as official and nonofficial parties determine how to punish the infraction.

Friday, September 24, 2004

The press seems unable or unwilling to focus on the relevant. Broadcast and cable punditry is unconstrained by reason or reality. Protests and demonstrations are largely unattached to clear purpose or target.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Since Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" incident in February, regulation fever has spread. The FCC is exploring numerous ways to regulate broadcasters, all of which engage free-speech concerns.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

The problem in the CIA leak story is not leaks. The problem is pervasive secrecy, only a fraction of which really protects our security.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Michael Jackson’s latest attempt to hide the proceedings against him from public view is understandable, but regrettable. What is not understandable is that the prosecutor and the judge in the case strongly support Jackson’s motion, too.

Friday, July 16, 2004

We should not fear dissenting views but embrace them as opportunities to improve our own positions and to display our confidence in the give-and-take of democratic discourse.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Decision not to let Internet-porn law go into effect is lone, limited victory for free expression this term.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Those charged with making us secure must recognize the value in sharing information judiciously with the public.