It was reported earlier today that a judge has upheld a decision from a lower court to prevent The New York Times from writing about Project Veritas.“There is no dispute that Project Veritas is the holder of the privilege, and the Times has not claimed that it was waived by Project Veritas,” Westchester County New York Justice Charles D. Wood said in his 28-page decision, Law & Crime reported.
Since Wood’s earlier order from November, press freedom advocates called any intrusion upon the Times reporting on Project Veritas a dangerous trampling on the Supreme Court’s precedent in the Pentagon Papers case.
The Times victory in that case in 1971 established an enormous burden upon the government for any prior restraint of the press—and of course, allowed the paper to publish top secret information showing that the Lyndon B. Johnson administration “systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress” about the Vietnam War.
Judge Wood noted that the freedom to publish about “matters of public concern is a bedrock principle of the First Amendment,” but he denied that this category included Project Veritas’s legal memos.
“Undoubtedly, every media outlet believes that anything that it publishes is a matter of public concern,” the judge said. “The state of our nation is that roughly half the nation prioritizes interests that are vastly different than the other half. Our smart phones beep and buzz all day long with news flashes that supposedly reflect our browsing and clicking interests, and we can tune in or read the news outlet that gives us the stories and topics that we want to see. But some things are not fodder for public consideration and consumption.”
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said he is going to seek a stay on the ruling and appeal the judge’s decision in the case.
