Harry W. Stonecipher

More Freedom for the Prison Press: An Emerging First Amendment Issue?.

,The 19th century view that a prisoner is “the slave of the state”1 has long been discarded.2 The legal debate continues, however, over whether a state or federal prisoner should be viewed as retaining only those rights and protections which assure him minimum humane treatment in the institution3 or whether prison officials should be required t o justify-perhaps by a heavy legal burden-any restriction, rule or regulation touching upon constitutional freedoms.4 Indeed, the American Bar Association’s Standards of Criminal Justice states that “Prisoners retain all the rights of free citizens except those on which restriction is necessary to assure their orderly confinement or to provide reasonable protection for the rights and physical safety of all members of the prison community.”s That statement is reinforced by two 1974 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the first case, Procunier v. Martinez: the Court held that “the limitation of First Amendment freedoms in prison

Public relations news releases and libel: Extending first amendment protections

Abstract This study presents an overview of both the common law and constitutional privileges protecting the expression of opinion in public relations news releases. Recent cases are reviewed and suggestions are offered to help public relations practitioners construct releases that are relatively “libelproof.” Emphasis is placed on following the guidelines suggested by the Ollman four-factor test for distinguishing statements of fact from statements of opinion. 1. (1) Examine the common usage to determine “core of meaning.” 2. (2) Determine how verifiable statements are. 3. (3) Examine the context (cautionary language) in which statements occur. 4. (4) Examine the broad social context/conventions associated with the statements.

More Freedom for the Prison Press: An Emerging First Amendment Issue?:

*Don Sneed is assistant professor of journalism, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. He formerly taught journalism at Menard Correctional Center, a maximum security prison in Chester, Illinois. Harry Stonecipher is professor of journalism, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. How have the courts, particularly the Supreme Court of the United States, defined the constitutional rights of prisoners? More specifically, how have the Federal and state courts defined the First Amendment rights of the prison press and the inmate journalist during the past decade? These questions will provide the focus of this article.

The Impact of Gertz on the Law of Libel

Opinion has been cited in at least 23 states, but interpretation has varied on public figure criteria and standard of liability for private person.