Georgia has a strong public policy in favor of open government, which the state legislature recognizes to be essential to a free, open, and democratic society. Georgia’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act both reflect this policy, by codifying the presumption that public records should be made available for public inspection without delay and…
The First Amendment Clinic has collaborated with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation to create a first-of-its-kind guide to accessing state and federal court records and proceedings in Georgia. Referred to as the “Yellow Book,” the guide is organized by type of court and type of access. It uses a digestible question-and-answer format that allows readers…
Norins, C; Harmon-Walker, T. and Tharani, N., Restoring Student Press Freedoms: Why Every State Needs a “New Voices” Law, 32 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY CIVIL RIGHTS LAW JOURNAL 63 (2021). ***** High school journalists across the country have long provided news reporting, political and social commentary, and valuable perspective on issues of public concern to their…
What is prior restraint? Prior restraint is a type of censorship where speech or expression is stopped before it occurs. For example: A school administrator tells a student journalist that certain topics are off limits (before anything is even written) or that a certain article cannot be published. Learn more about prior restraint. …
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are both abridged when government agencies prohibit their employees from speaking with the media on matters of public import. An unqualified ban on public employees granting media interviews, “especially when backed up by the threat of adverse personnel action, remains presumptively unconstitutional as a prior restraint on…
Georgia’s Shield Law, most recently codified at O.C.G.A. § 24-5-508, and the qualified reporters’ privilege recognized by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (covering Georgia, Alabama and Florida) both protect journalists, in many instances, from being compelled as a third-party witness or from having to produce their work product as evidence in a legal…
Under the First Amendment, citizens have the right to record the police performing their duties in public. This right is essential to informing the public about police activity and holding government accountable for the actions of law enforcement. First Amendment Watch’s Citizen’s Guide to Recording Police On October 9, 2020, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation…
In June 2020, the First Amendment Clinic created an information sheet for journalists on how to prepare, how to respond, and what to expect when police detain or arrest you in the course of newsgathering.