A bizarre instance of governmental bullying and judicial malpractice in Mississippi highlights the importance of state laws that protect the freedom of the press by shielding media outlets and all public commentators from abusive and frivolous lawsuits.
Both Pennsylvania and Ohio have passed so-called “anti-SLAPP” laws in the last year, which provide a layer protection not available in 40 other states, including West Virginia, New York and Maryland. SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” and describes attempts by governments and corporations to stifle the press by threatening expensive and exhausting litigation when media reports on something, or offers an opinion, they dislike.
The saga of the Clarksdale Press Register offers a startling case in point. The underlying issue was a tax sought by local officials in the Mississippi Delta town of 15,000, which would fund public safety with a levy on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco. The mayor, Chuck Espy, D, held a special meeting of the town’s governing body to finalize the resolution before submitting it to the state legislature, which would have to approve it. Public notice was made for the meeting. Everything was on the up and up.
But the Press Register — the town’s main news source — was not informed about the meeting, as per usual practice. So the newspaper ran an editorial questioning why the newspaper was left out of the meeting, and raising the possibility the town’s leaders didn’t want its final adjustments to the new tax to receive scrutiny.
Standard stuff. None of the facts in the Press Register editorial have been challenged. The city admits its employee mistakenly failed to inform the newspaper about the meeting. But the mild suggestion of impropriety in the editorial so offended the town’s leaders that the city sued the Press Register in Chancery Court — a Mississippi institution that does not seem to be the proper court for such litigation.
Regardless of the lack of merit of the filing, and the lack of jurisdiction of the court, a judge granted the City of Clarksdale’s petition that the Press Register should remove the editorial from its website, under threat of fines of $100 per day. This is an unambiguous violation of the First Amendment, and will certainly be overruled on appeal by any competent judge.
But the point isn’t whether the Press Register will win — it will — but that the litigation is meant to intimidate. Obviously the newspaper is in the right — but might an editorial writer or reporter or columnist in Clarksdale, or elsewhere in Mississippi, think twice before criticizing the government in order to avoid the hassle of a lawsuit? And might the small paper struggle to pay to defend itself, even if it’ll ultimately have its costs refunded by the plaintiff? Yes and yes.
This is a textbook example of a SLAPP.
Anti-SLAPP statutes force the plaintiff to immediately prove their likelihood of success before any major litigation occurs — and face paying court fees and opponents’ costs if they fail. This ensures publishers and individuals don’t have to face major legal expenses before having frivolous cases dismissed, and their outlays refunded.
Pennsylvania passed just such a bill last year, and Ohio followed suit earlier this year. Unfortunately, however, only 10 states have anti-SLAPP laws on the books, which means most media outlets in America are vulnerable to government and corporate bullies who want to make an example of anyone who crosses them — like the honest editors at the Clarksdale Press Register.
Every state in America should have an anti-SLAPP law to protect press freedom before the bullies feel even more emboldened.
