Is Your Website Being Used for AI? Can You Stop it? Published Sept. 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Chatbots such as ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence services have exploded online since their introduction just a few months ago. They have become so popular...
South Carolina Supreme Court is unanimous in its support of open courts and open records. Are the trial courts paying attention?
South Carolina Supreme Court is unanimous in its support of open courts and open records. Are the trial courts paying attention? Published Sept. 2023 By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender On September 6 the Supreme Court of South Carolina filed an opinion vacating an order which had reduced the prison sentence...
Could the Kansas Police Newspaper Raid Happen Here?
Could the Kansas Police Newspaper Raid Happen Here? Published August 2023Editor's Note: SCPA members are welcome to republish this column online or in print. By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The Aug. 11 police raid of the Marion County Record—in which the police seized the newspaper’s...
SCPA President: CBS’ Koppel report provides hope, relights the journalism embers
CBS’ Koppel report provides hope, relights the journalism embers Published July 2023 By SCPA President Richard Whiting, Editor of the Index-Journal If you are a South Carolina newspaper (and website) journalist, then I hope I’m not sharing something you did not already know about and, more important, already watch. But...
Free Press Doesn’t Mean Freedom to Break the Law, But Police Shouldn’t Arrest Journalists
Free Press Doesn’t Mean Freedom to Break the Law, But Police Shouldn’t Arrest Journalists Published July 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Last month two reporters for the left-leaning The Asheville Blade in North Carolina were convicted of misdemeanor trespassing for not leaving when...
‘Running of the interns’ highlights why federal courts should be open to cameras
'Running of the interns' highlights why federal courts should be open to cameras Published June 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications “On your mark. Get set. Go!”These words were not actually called out in the federal courtroom where former president Donald Trump was arraigned...
Managing and Covering the Murdaugh Case and Other “Trials of the Century”
Managing and Covering the Murdaugh Case and Other “Trials of the Century” Published Feb. 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Although it is common to call a high-profile trial “the trial of the century,” it is a misnomer; there have been several such trials...
Abortion Ruling Could Impact Media Law
Abortion Ruling Could Impact Media Law Published July 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications We have already seen some of the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent blockbuster decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which reversed its 49-year-old Roe v. Wade...
2021 Was a Record Year in U.S. Press Freedom, But Not in a Good Way
2021 was another record year in U.S. Press Freedom, but not in a good way Published Jan. 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The language of the First Amendment regarding freedom of speech and the press seems pretty absolute: “Congress shall make no law...
Media Law Then and Now: In Recognition of Bill Rogers’ Retirement
Media Law Then and Now: In Recognition of Bill Rogers’ Retirement Published July 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Each month in this column, I attempt to highlight a recent development in media law, either in South Carolina or nationally, that may have an...
Government Accessing Electronic Communications to Identify Sources: It Can Happen to You
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...
Free Speech Issues Abound After Capitol Hill Riot
Free Speech Issues Abound After Capitol Hill Riot Published January 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The riot at the Capitol building on Jan. 6 and its aftermath have raised several serious concerns about American politics and society. These events also raise several questions...
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...
Trump Hits the Wall of Courts’ Prior Restraint Precedents
Trump Hits the Wall of Courts' Prior Restraint Precedents Published July 13, 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications President Trump’s campaign and family have both tried in recent weeks—and earlier in his presidency—to stop publication of books and other things that may be uncomfortable...
Protests, Free Speech and Press Freedom
Protests, Free Speech and Press Freedom Published June 16, 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The past few weeks have been tumultuous and tragic, with an ongoing pandemic, large (peaceful) protests against police misconduct and riots in some places that involved destruction of property...
Thank you, S.C. journalists
Thank you, S.C. journalists Published June 3, 2020 By Bill Rogers, Executive Director These are very tough but important times for South Carolina journalists.Demonstrations continue over the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.We have seen legal protests turn into violent confrontations with cars set afire, businesses damaged...
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...
A newsrack, a judge, and the First Amendment
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Last week, during jury selection for trial of Timothy Jones, who is accused of killing his five children in Lexington County and dumping their bodies in Alabama in 2014, presiding judge Eugene Griffith Jr. ordered the removal of...
Cut out the attacks on the press
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | There was widespread condemnation when Hope Carpenter returned on March 31 to the Greenville church that she and her husband Ron founded in 1991 and expressed her support for the church’s new leaders, John and Aventer Gray.
Is New York Times v. Sullivan in danger?
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | The basis of modern American media law is the 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan, in which a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the First Amendment required that limitations be placed on defamation law. But...
The government doesn’t dictate media here
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | On Jan. 6, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with two notable revelations: el-Sisi denied that his country has political prisoners, despite documentation; and he confirmed prior reports that Egyptian and Israeli forces have coordinated in...
Can public officials shut out journalists? It depends…
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | It already seems like a long time ago, but it’s only been a month since the Trump administration’s long-simmering clash with CNN reached a new level, with the cancellation of reporter Jim Acosta’s “hard pass” that gave him...
First Amendment protects free distribution pubs too; new Horry litter ordinance could bring test
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | As newspapers have faced economic challenges, many have developed slimmed down versions that feature a few stories and both display and insert advertising. These new publications are offered for free, and are often delivered to individual homes without...
Free press, free people
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | Donald J. Trump is a bully and a thug. I could tell you he is a liar, but you and everyone else in America—even his Republican minions in Congress, know that already.
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...
Legal Q&A: Recording public officials
Legal Q&A: Recording public officials (Feb. 2018) Q: Can you record public officials on public property? By SCPA Attorney Taylor Smith A: Yes. The rights under the First Amendment are not absolute but assuming the act of recording does not substantially interfere with the public official’s performance of his or her...
First Amendment February at the U.S. Supreme Court
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | February may be the shortest month, but it is full of arguments in major First Amendment cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. And while none of the cases directly involve the media, whenever the High Court considers a...
Washington woes, a Charleston charade and some hope
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | When I was a legal fellow at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press we had an “outrage meter” drawn on one of the whiteboards in the reception area. The “needle” on the meter would be redrawn...
Another president who took on ‘fake news’
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | President Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t like the media by making threats and insulting both media outlets and individual journalists, ruminating about reforming libel law, and complaining about media coverage of himself and his administration.
Charlottesville, the First Amendment and the Press
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Most reactions to the march by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last month condemned the marchers, their message and their use of swastikas, chants and Nazi imagery. But there were also questions of why they were allowed to...
Only one star, but several legal issues
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | A lawsuit by a Charleston psychiatrist over a single star review on Google raises several legal issues regarding standards for the social media era, including issues that apply equally to traditional media.
The Media Bite Back: Legal responses to attacks against the media
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | The insults and haranguing of the media during Donald Trump’s campaign has continued into his presidency, with Trump and various White House officials continuing to disparage the media and its reporting. Elected officials at the state and local...
Local case raises question: Is journalism harassment?
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | In April, independent investigative journalist Ron Aiken successfully defended himself against civil harassment and stalking charges brought against him by Pinewood Lake Park Foundation CEO Liewendelyn Hart, after Aiken reported that the foundation’s use of government funds is...
Fake news is a real dilemma for the law
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | The labelling of information as “fake news” has become yet another weapon in battles of the Trump presidency, used by the administration and its supporters as well as its critics.
The Dylann Roof case, open and shut
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | In November, as the prosecution of Dylann Roof for the Emanuel AME Church massacre edged closer to trial, federal judge Richard Gergel decided to grant a defense request that the public and the press be barred from a...