Free Speech, Free Press or Free for All? Social Media and the First Amendment

Apr 25 2019

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Apr 25, 2019 at 8:30am

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WASHINGTON — Is the First Amendment still relevant in the age of social media? How can we be sure that what we’re reading and watching is true? What can social media platforms do to curtail the spread of misinformation and lies? How can journalists make the best use of social media to enrich their reporting and to gain more audience while at the same time protecting themselves from harassment? The Missouri–Hurley and Price Sloan Symposium on Thursday, April 25, at the National Press Club, will explore these questions and more with journalists, social media experts and legal scholars. The event is sponsored in partnership with the National Press Club Journalism Institute.

The keynote luncheon speaker will be Brian Stelter, the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and anchor of “Reliable Sources,” a weekly program that examines top media stories and journalism practices. Stelter reports for CNN Media and writes a nightly e-newsletter. He is a former New York Times media reporter and is the author of the best seller, Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV.

Legal Panel


  • Anupam Chander, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

  • Andrea Matwyshyn, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity, Northeastern University

  • Jerry Ellig, Professor, The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center

  • Jeff Koseff, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law, U.S. Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department

  • David Vladeck, former Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, A.B. Chettle Chair in Civil Procedure, Georgetown University

  • Moderator: Sam Halabi, Director of the Center for Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law



Journalist Panel


  • Manuel Garcia, Standards Editor, Gannett

  • Angie Holan, Washington Bureau Chief, PolitiFact

  • Cecilia Kang, Technology Reporter, New York Times

  • James Warren, executive editor, NewsGuard, former chief media writer, Poynter Institute

  • Hannah Wise, Audience Development Editor, Dallas Morning News

  • Moderator: Barbara Cochran, Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism and Washington Program Director, University of Missouri School of Journalism


WHAT: Free Speech, Free Press or Free for All? Social Media and the First Amendment
Missouri–Hurley and Price Sloan Symposium

WHEN: Thursday, April 25
8:30 a.m.–2 p.m.

WHERE: National Press Club
529 14th St., NW
Washington, D.C.

Free registration at bit.ly/April25SocialMedia