Episode 98: The Loss of Press Freedom with Professor Rebecca Hamilton

A Free ranging discussion of freedom of the press.Dictators hate a free press. Victor Orbán in Hungary built his own media universe while simultaneously dismantling the free press. The Nazis smashed printing presses of opposition newspapers. One of Trump’s first actions was to dictate who would cover him in the White House and on Air Force One and refuse to allow the Associated Press admittance to press briefings. Social media and press giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk control or rather eliminate control over truthfulness of content placed on Facebook and X; Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, stated he will not print opinions that oppose his subservience to Donald Trump.My guest today on Specifically for Seniors is Rebecca Hamilton a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Her research and teaching focus is on national security law, technology, international law, and criminal law. Her scholarship draws on her experience in the prosecution of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, as well as her journalism background, including work in conflict zones as a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post. She is the author of FIGHTING FOR DARFUR: PUBLIC ACTION AND THE STRUGGLE TO STOP GENOCIDE, which analyzes citizen activism and the effort to stop mass atrocities.Rebecca and I talk about the First Amendment, control of media by billionaires who wish to control thought, Trump and his efforts to interfere with public access to the news, the punishment of non-profits and universities, the constitution crisis we are experiencing, law firm, academic freedom and what we as citizens can do.Links to interviewshttps://www.justsecurity.org/107377/trump-control-us-media-information/https://www.justsecurity.org/109439/collective-law-firms-universities-media/ Also - on a different note - The joy that is becoming a hearing aid userhttps://slate.com/technology/2024/10/hearing-aids-loss-sudden-deafness-apple-airpods.html