Simpson-Wood on The Precarious Position of the Fourth Estate in Trumptopia: The Role of Popular Culture and the Law in Protecting Media Freedom @Barry_Law

Taylor Simpson-Wood, Barry University School of Law, is publishing The Precarious Position of the Fourth Estate in Trumptopia: The Role of Popular Culture and the Law in Protecting Media Freedom in volume 49 of the Southwestern University Law Review (2020). Here is the abstract.

This article addresses the Trump administration’s on-going attack against the free press as the ‘enemy of the people” both domestically and internationally. It discusses seminal cases in the area, including New York Times Co. v. Sullivan and Hustler Magazine v. Falwell. The piece also compares what is occurring in “Trumptopia” with Orwell’s classic, dystopian novel, 1984, and addresses the gas-lighting technique that the president is using to convince the American people to believe that what he is saying is the “truth” even when they know it is doublespeak. The essay also proposes that Popular Culture, via films such as The Post, Spotlight, and Good Night and Good Luck, can remind the public of the vital importance of maintaining and protecting a strong, free, and independent media.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.