Government Accessing Electronic Communications to Identify Sources: It Can Happen to You Published June 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The revelations that the U.S. Justice Department secretly sought information on reporters’ e-mail, phone and other communications has sent shock waves through media and...
Study Shows Increasing U.S. Supreme Court Skepticism of the Press
Study Shows Increasing U.S. Supreme Court Skepticism of the Press Published May 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Despite avowed threats to media freedom in recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have showed general fealty to the landmark New York Times...
Chauvin Trial Shows Importance of Court Access
Chauvin Trial Shows Importance of Court Access Published April 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications There has been a lot of attention focused on the ongoing trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. Occurring in the context of...
Seattle Subpoena Fight Is First Amendment Dilemma
Seattle Subpoena Fight Is First Amendment Dilemma Published August 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The protests and riots in cities across the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis raised many questions about race, justice and free speech. But developments...
Sealed Mulvaney case shows rules for sealing court documents
Sealed Mulvaney case shows rules for sealing court documents Published February 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications On the surface, a legal case with an appeal currently pending before the South Carolina Court of Appeals looks like a technical business case resulting from a...
In Test of Revised FOIA, Judge Rules Against Last-Minute Agenda Additions
In test of revised FOIA, judge rules against last-minute agenda additions Published Jan. 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications A recent common pleas court decision appears to be the first application of recent changes to South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Law, and requirements for public...
Tales of FOIA and Secrets, Then and Now
Tales of FOIA and Secrets, Then and Now Published December 2019 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The Pentagon Papers case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Nixon administration’s attempt to bar publication of a detailed history of American involvement in southeast Asia...
October Media Law Updates
Media Law Updates: ADA Suit Against S.C. Newspaper; FCC Net Neutrality Repeal Upheld, While Repeal of Cross-Ownership Ban Vacated Published Oct. 16, 2019 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications ADA Lawsuit Over South Carolina Newspaper’s Web Site: In August I wrote about the question of...
A refresher on camera’s in S.C. courtroom rules and procedures
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | Editor’s note: This is a column Jay Bender wrote in 2013. Little has changed and Jay says this column is must reading. An appropriate photo of Jay is also published!
What to do when a judge closes a courtroom
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | You’re in the courtroom to cover a proceeding. You’re not taking photographs or recording the proceeding with your smart phone or other device. You’re doing what reporters have always done—you’re paying attention and taking notes.
Denial of courtroom access because you didn’t fill out a form
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | South Carolina has a distinctive constitutional provision that states that all courts shall be public. Art. I, §9 S.C. Constitution. The Supreme Court of South Carolina has consistently ruled that this constitutional provision, as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,...
Access to judicial records
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | Years ago a young woman named Heather Elvis disappeared in Horry County. Her body has never been found, but two persons have been found guilty in connection with her disappearance.
The (court)room where it happens
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | In the second act of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” the Aaron Burr character expresses his jealousy at being excluded from –and his desire to get into – the meetings that his rival Alexander Hamilton participates in where...
The holes in South Carolina’s shield law
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | The case of blogger Will Folks – in which a judge is considering whether to hold Folks in contempt and possibly jail him for refusing to reveal a confidential source – points out an intentional gap in South...