Village Voice Media Archives - Front Page Confidential

Backpage, Censorship, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, News, Opinion/Analysis, Section 230, Sex Work, U.S. DOJ, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Michael Lacey’s Attorney in Backpage Case: Lacey’s a ‘First Amendment Guy’

Stephen Lemons/September 1, 2023September 1, 2023 /Leave a comment

During opening arguments on Thursday in the Backpage trial in Phoenix, Michael Lacey’s attorney, Paul Cambria, rebutted allegations made by federal prosecutors that Lacey “facilitated” misdemeanor prostitution offenses because he once co-owned the classified listings site, Backpage.com. “Sex for money…

First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, News, Opinion/Analysis

Michael Lacey’s Remarks After Memorial Service for Jim Larkin

Front Page Confidential/August 6, 2023August 9, 2023 /1 Comment

MICHAEL LACEY, AUGUST 5, 2023: Jim Larkin’s passing has torn at my heart. His suicide on July 31, 2023, is incomprehensible. I knew him for over 40 years as we pursued stories across America, literally from sea to shining sea….

Asset Seizures, Backpage, Censorship, First Amendment, News, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Michael Lacey’s Statement on the Death of Jim Larkin

Front Page Confidential/August 2, 2023August 9, 2023 /3 Comments

FROM MICHAEL LACEY Jim Larkin’s passing has torn at my heart. I knew him for over 40 years as we pursued stories across America, literally from sea to shining sea. He began a newspaper in high school; journalism was quite…

U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa

Backpage, Freedom of Speech, News, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Judge Suggests Trying Journalists Lacey and Larkin Separately from Co-Defendants (See Update)

Stephen Lemons/March 10, 2023March 23, 2023 /Leave a comment

See judge’s order, here: Unprompted by the parties in the case, federal Judge Diane Humetewa suggested severing the upcoming trials of ex-Backpage owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin from their fellow defendants. In an order filed Thursday in federal court…

Backpage, Censorship, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, News, Opinion/Analysis, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Backpage’s Victories in Federal and State Courts

Stephen Lemons/July 11, 2022July 18, 2022 /1 Comment

One of the great ironies of the federal government’s criminal pursuit of veteran newspapermen and former Backpage owners, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, is Backpage’s winning record in court. Prior to their 2018 arrests, federal and state judges repeatedly upheld…

First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Back to the Future: Remembering How New Times Helped Overturn AZ’s Abortion Ban

Stephen Lemons/February 21, 2022June 24, 2022 /Leave a comment

Anticipating a favorable ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar Mississippi statute, Republicans in Arizona’s state Senate recently passed a bill along party lines that would outlaw most abortions after 15 weeks, with no exception made for victims…

Censorship, Cindy McCain, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, John McCain, Kamala Harris, News, Required Reading, Section 230, U.S. DOJ, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

MAJOR POINTS CONCERNING THE 2021 LACEY/LARKIN TRIAL

Front Page Confidential/September 5, 2021April 5, 2023 /Leave a comment

PLEASE ALSO READ: A STATEMENT FROM LACEY AND LARKIN ON THEIR 2021 TRIAL MAJOR POINTS Michael Lacey, Jim Larkin and four codefendants currently face 100 counts including the following: facilitating misdemeanor state prostitution offenses in violation of the U.S. Travel…

Backpage, Censorship, Cindy McCain, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, John McCain, News, Opinion, Sex Work, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Arizona Republic ‘Reporter’ Falsely Accuses Renowned Journalists of ‘Murder’ and Misreads Indictment

Stephen Lemons/September 1, 2021September 5, 2021 /Leave a comment

In hindsight, I should not be surprised by “reporter” Richard Ruelas’ shameful steaming pile of a hit piece in the Arizona Republic yesterday. After all, the first thing the Republic lifer did when veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin…

Backpage, Censorship, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Kamala Harris, News, Section 230, U.S. v. Lacey & Larkin

Prosecutors in Lacey/Larkin Trial Say Lawyers Advised Village Voice Media that Backpage Operated Legally

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

In a motion filed Tuesday in federal court in Phoenix, the government asserts that attorneys for Village Voice Media (VVM), the 17-paper alt-media chain once co-owned by veteran newsmen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, advised VVM that the Craigslist-inspired classified…

First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, News

Lacey and Larkin Discuss the 50th Anniversary of the Kent State Massacre in Phoenix New Times

Stephen Lemons/May 2, 2020May 27, 2020 /Leave a comment

Before they were newspapermen, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were young iconoclasts, fed up with the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration and the Kent State Massacre. But as they both explain in recent interviews for the paper they founded 50…