Press Freedom, Consolidation, News Deserts, and Ghost Papers

Op-Eds

• The Op-Ed Project and its advice
• Think about ethos from rhetoric.  Why do you have the standing to write this piece?  Example
• NYT Tips
• LAT and submission page

Freedom of Press Redux

• The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
• Opinion on government control
• The Doctrine of Prior Restraint and gag orders
• Copyright
• Defamation
• Who really uses FOIA?  (Hint:  it ain't Woodward and Bernstein).   
• The United States is unusual in its protection of free speech.
• Comparative analysis of press freedom

Media Barons and News Deserts

• Decline in daily newspapers
• Consolidation

• Decline in revenue

• Economics of news deserts and ghost newspapers
• Buying papers for scrap value
• Map of news deserts

• One response:  Patch  (example from Montrose-La Crescenta)
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