The Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School invite you, your journalist colleagues and others from your organization to the next in their series of occasional lunchtime discussions of current issues facing journalists and their lawyers.
The New York Times’ recent solicitation, publication, and disavowal of an inflammatory opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton has led to much soul-searching about the proper role of the institutional press in America. This Zoom event at noon on Tuesday, July 14, will explore some of the fundamental issues that are fueling an ongoing debate about the actions and responsibilities of a free and independent press in an era of deep partisan divide, destruction of institutional political norms, and mistrust of the traditional news outlets.
The flare up at the Times brought into stark relief a growing divide among journalists and First Amendment advocates over the meaning and value of “neutrality” in publishing news, the role of major news organizations as platforms for opinion; and the guideposts those organizations use to decide whose voices deserve to be heard. This session will take a deep dive into these issues and inquire broadly into how the institutional press serves democracy in a society rife with social unrest, disinformation, extreme inequality, and political divisiveness.
First Amendment advocate Floyd Abrams will moderate a panel with deep insights into these issues, comprised of Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for PBS, Wes Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist now with CBS News, and Jay Rosen, media critic, writer, and professor of journalism at New York University.
