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State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby doesn't like the many critical and investigative stories that WBBF Baltimore has run about her and just sent an astonishing letter to the FCC demanding that its "coverage [be] curtailed and ceased." /1 https://www.scribd.com/document/506825102/FCC-Complaint-Letter
Here's the station itself covering the story. The headline "Baltimore City State's Attorney Office tries to silence local media source" seems right to me. Mosby's letter openly seeks to intimidate and chill speech protected by the First Amendment. /2, efn https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/baltimore-city-states-attorney-office-tries-to-silence-local-media-source
From @VolokhSpeech: "Critical news coverage, whether of prosecutors, police officers, or anyone else, can't be suppressed on the grounds that some tiny fraction of the audience may be so angered by it that they will commit crimes against the people being criticized." /3
And: "I note that none of the letter's claims of 'distortion' are supported by any actual explanation of why the stories are supposedly inconsistent with the facts.....I expect the FCC to (rightly) dismiss the complaint." /4 https://reason.com/volokh/2021/05/07/baltimore-prosecutor-asking-fcc-to-investigate-tv-station-for-criticizing-her/
Seems to me Mosby's letter should be met by a united front of condemnation among media people (especially in Maryland), free speech advocates, and those who track D.A. misconduct. Prosecutors must not be allowed to chill and suppress critical journalism about their doings. /5
Call letters WBFF, sorry. / 6
It will be worth watching to see whether @baltimoresun voices like @davidzurawik and @DanRodricks, who have not been shy about calling out other efforts by politicos to intimidate the media, will be equally blunt in naming what Mosby is up to here. /7 https://twitter.com/DanRodricks/status/1390630742531526658?s=20
I've now given this a short write-up at my blog Free State Notes: https://freestatenotes.wordpress.com/2021/05/08/marilyn-mosby-files-fcc-complaint-against-broadcast-criticism/
