With the 2022 midterm elections around the corner and the 2024 presidential election less than two years away, candidates from all parties are intensifying efforts to reach voters through the media and, in more recent cycles,...more
In considering whether a Texas law banning the use of drones for surveillance purposes violates the First Amendment, a federal judge sitting in Austin held the law infringes on the right of journalists to document and...more
The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled that there are limits on when attorneys are protected by the judicial proceedings privilege or by attorney immunity. Following the Court's decision in Landry's Inc. et al. v. Animal...more
Before the trial of Dallas police officer Amber Guyger on charges of murdering Botham Jean in his own apartment, the defense team argued that “media hysteria” threatened to deny her right to a fair trial. But when court...more
10/17/2019
/ Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Digital Media ,
Journalists ,
Jury Trial ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Law Enforcement ,
Murder ,
News Stories ,
Police ,
Right to a Fair Trial
In Texas, our public information act is founded on the proposition that the people are sovereign and entitled to full disclosure of governmental affairs in order to retain control of public institutions.
Embedded in our...more
Texas has rarely seen a storm as destructive and vicious as Hurricane Harvey. It was an ill wind that blew little good. But the monster rain delivered by the storm did not obscure the bravery and compassion of Texans from all...more
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled a potential sea change in the Department of Justice’s treatment of the news media. Sessions proclaimed that the Justice Department will pursue leak...more
9/1/2017
/ Attorney General ,
Confidential Source ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
First Amendment ,
Journalists ,
Media ,
Media Leaks ,
News Stories ,
Search Warrant ,
Subpoenas
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court placed new limits on where lawsuits may be filed. In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, No. 16–466 (June 19, 2017), the justices, in an eight – one decision,...more
6/24/2017
/ Bristol-Myers Squibb Co v Superior Court of California - San Francisco County ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Due Process ,
Forum Shopping ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
General Jurisdiction ,
Mass Tort Litigation ,
Minimum Contacts ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Specific Jurisdiction
Despite the high heat of summer, two federal courts have blown a chill wind through the law of online defamation. The courts gave the green light to libel suits over alleged implications from stock or file photos illustrating...more
Online journalists and scholars from the Americas and around the globe recently gathered at the University of Texas at Austin to assess the state of internet-based journalism.
The keynote address of the 16th annual...more
4/28/2016
/ Actual Malice ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Burden of Proof ,
Defamation ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Journalists ,
Libel ,
Political Speech ,
Public Officials ,
Social Media
Fear of liability may match fear of flying for many Americans.
We all know that commercial aviation is one of the safest forms of modern transportation. But it only takes a gut-wrenching drop of an aircraft in the...more
4/28/2015
/ Actual Malice ,
Air Wisconsin v. Hoeper ,
Airlines ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Aviation Industry ,
Defamation ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Libel ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Public Safety ,
SCOTUS ,
TSA ,
Whistleblowers
As a young lawyer in 1985, a case came my way that combined several passions: college football, newspaper journalism and the First Amendment. I was the associate attorney assigned to help apply legal muscle in support of our...more
In a case of first impression for a state appellate court, a Texas broadcaster was protected against a stale libel suit arising from a news report posted to the Internet. ...more
A decades-long string of libel opinions by the Texas Supreme Court in favor of media defendants came to a resounding halt this summer. In Neely v. Wilson, the Court reversed summary judgment for an Austin television station....more
In This Issue:
- Paul Watler's Perspective:
Texas Anti-SLAPP Wins for Media Defendants - Two recent cases show that Texas Courts of Appeals will take the Citizens Participation Act's evidentiary requirements...more
Does Congress have constitutional authority to ban paid political advertising from public broadcast stations? Ad-weary viewers may learn the answer just in time for the next presidential election.
...more
In This Issue:
- Paul Watler's Perspective: One of the few places of refuge from the political campaign advertising onslaught was public television and radio. That may change depending on a little-noticed First Amendment...more