ABSTRACT
New communication technologies have been reshaping the gathering, production, and distribution of news, with the effect of challenging long-held legal principles and government policies. The contemporary political-cultural moment has presented its own law and policy challenges, too. Elected officials have denounced the press in dangerous terms. Reporters have been detained or arrested while covering protests. They have been sued by the wealthy and ensnared in leak investigations. They have been denied access to open records and meetings. Against that background, this chapter explores how recent cultural, political, and technological changes have renewed and complicated efforts to regulate the modern practice of journalism, with a focus on the discrete issues that most often affect the press and influence news content, including prior restraints, privacy, defamation, access to information, and the protection of news sources and materials.
