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Media

Nowadays when we say “media,” we don’t only mean print, radio, TV, and online. We mean all of the above — plus streaming services, podcasts, and big-time players like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google.

As companies, not government entities, media outlets aren’t bound by the First Amendment, but they owe their power to shape and influence culture and thought to its continued existence.

stopwatch
Media, News, Opinion/Analysis, Section 230, Sex Trafficking, Sex Work

60 Minutes+ Uses Dubious Stat to Push Sex Trafficking Panic

Stephen Lemons/March 26, 2021March 26, 2021 /Leave a comment

Riffing off an old chestnut, the inimitable Maggie McNeill once wrote that there are “lies, damn lies and sex trafficking statistics.” Now 60 Minutes+, a streaming version of the venerable news program, is helping to make McNeill’s point by highlighting…

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MarciaPowell
Media, Sex Work

Remembering Marcia Powell with the Help of PJ Starr’s No Human Involved

Stephen Lemons/March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 /1 Comment

Leave it to veteran Phoenix human rights activist Peggy Plews to sum up society’s complicity in the heinous killing of Marcia Powell, a 48-year-old, indigent, mentally-ill woman, whose heat-induced, 2009 death at Arizona’s Perryville Prison is recounted in filmmaker PJ…

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Blue illustration of a man in a suit, his face replaced by the Facebook logo.
Censorship, Media, News

Facebook Axes Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Etc., and Liberals Love It

Stephen Lemons/May 3, 2019May 11, 2019 /1 Comment

There was a time, not too long ago, when liberals loathed censorship, cherished the idea of freedom of speech and held fast to the dictum, often misattributed to Voltaire, that, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend…

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Comedian Hasan Minhaj on the set of his Netflix show, explaining the meaning of the Saudis' nickname for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman
Censorship, Freedom of Speech, Media, News

Netflix Bows to Saudi Kingdom, Censors Comedian Hasan Minhaj’s Show

Stephen Lemons/January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 /Leave a comment

No one ever accused Saudi Arabia’s ruthless rulers of possessing a sense of humor. So it should arch nary an eyebrow that they object to an episode of the comedy series Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj that’s critical of the kingdom’s notorious young…

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Venn diagram depicting the teensy intersection where Social Media Mavens, Social Justice Warriors, and Crossword Puzzle Solvers intersect
Hate Speech, Media, News

Fighting Words: The New York Times Crossword Puzzle as Cultural Divide

Tom Finkel/January 5, 2019January 9, 2019 /1 Comment

Those of us who were nursing our hangovers probably missed out. But on New Year’s Day, the nexus where Social Media Mavens, Social Justice Warriors, and Crossword Puzzle Solvers meet got a rare moment in the spotlight when the New…

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Kevin Hart and Ellen DeGeneres, seated and talking, on the set of The Ellen Show.
First Amendment, Media, News

Ellen DeGeneres Forgives Kevin Hart for His Homophobia, Says He Should Host Oscars

Stephen Lemons/January 4, 2019January 4, 2019 /Leave a comment

Ellen DeGeneres, one of the most powerful openly gay celebrities in Hollywood, really really wants her pal Kevin Hart to host the 2019 Oscars, despite all of the jokes the comedian has made at the expense of the LGBTQ community. During…

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A photo of a man and a woman dancing the tango, locked in a passionate embrace.
Media, News

Enough Already About the Butter: Last Tango in Paris’s Feminist Message

Stephen Lemons/January 3, 2019January 3, 2019 /Leave a comment

Lost in the recent outrage over film critic David Edelstein’s off-color Facebook comment about the infamous “butter scene” in Last Tango in Paris is one salient fact: By any measure, the late Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 succès de scandale conveys a powerful feminist…

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image of Donald Trump holding a microphone in his left hand and gesturing with the other. A primitively rendered snowman's head and scarf are superimposed where the president's head and red tie would be.
First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Media, News

It’s a Wonderful Parody: SNL’s Trump Skits Are Approved by the First Amendment

Stephen Lemons/December 17, 2018 /Leave a comment

One of the best things about having Donald Trump in the White House is that you never have to guess when he’s angry. And he’s angry a lot. Take this past Sunday morning, when indulged in a presidential airing of…

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2016 photo of James O'Keefe in profile at a lectern, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Media, News

ACLU and Right-Wing Provocateur James O’Keefe Both Claim Credit for Win in Massachusetts First Amendment Case

Stephen Lemons/December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 /Leave a comment

When the right and left of the political spectrum defend the First Amendment on identical grounds, free speech triumphs — even if neither side wants to share the glory after the fact. All of that came to pass with a…

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b&w street scene, Times Square, New York, circa 1981-82; photo by Vaticanus via Flickr
Fake News, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Media, Sex Work

Ohio Town Gets Religion, Officially Proclaims ‘Pornography Awareness Week’

Tom Finkel/November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 /Leave a comment

If you’re like most Americans, the holiday you most closely associate with the end of October is Halloween. Not so the purity-minded folks at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, who faithfully commemorate Pornography Awareness Week. And this year, the…

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           Required Reading

  1. Lacey/Larkin Statement on Trial
  2. Major Points on Lacey/Larkin Case 
  3. The Senate Accused Them of Selling Kids for Sex. The FBI Raided Their Homes. Backpage.com’s Founders Speak for the First Time., Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason, 8/21/18.
  4. The War on Backpage.com Is a War on Sex Workers, 38-minute Reason documentary, 6/26/19.
  5. Seventh Circuit Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner’s decision in Backpage v. Dart,11/30/15.
  6. Inside Backpage’s Vicious Battle With the Feds, Christine Biederman, WIRED cover story, 6/18/19.
  7. Feds Bungled Preservation of Server Evidence in U.S. v. Lacey and Larkin, Front Page Confidential, 10/8/2019.
  8. Real Men Get Their Facts Straight, The Village Voice, 6/29/11.
  9. How John and Cindy McCain Came to Hate Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, Front Page Confidential, 9/17/18.

About Front Page Confidential

Front Page Confidential is published by Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin and edited by Stephen Lemons. We aim to bring our readers important news, commentary, and historical perspectives on all matters related to free speech — from how it affects us all to how it will affect our future rights to speak freely.

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