skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Judge Rules Right to Videotape Police is Limited

play audio
Play

Monday, February 29, 2016   

PHILADELPHIA – A federal district court has ruled that videotaping police is not necessarily protected by the First Amendment.

In dismissing two cases brought by people who had been physically restrained by Philadelphia Police officers for videotaping them, Judge Mark Kearney said that without a clearly stated purpose, such as gathering news, the First Amendment doesn't apply.

Molly Tack-Hooper, an attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, says Kearney got it wrong.

"We believe that photographing the police when they are performing their duties in public is actually at the core of what the First Amendment is supposed to protect," she states.

One of the people detained was a trained police observer filming a protest. The ACLU plans to appeal the ruling.

Tack-Hooper points out that video of police activities taken by non-journalists has played a major role in efforts to curb abuse of authority and hold police accountable.

"But it can also be a neutral act that deters police misconduct,” she stresses. “Having more cameras helps keep everyone honest."

Tack-Hooper says Kearney's ruling runs counter to a number of rulings in other federal courts.

"The Federal Appeals Courts for the areas that cover Chicago, Boston and Atlanta have all gone the other way, as well as many lower courts," she points out.

The Philadelphia cases will now go to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021