Independent: “First Amendment lawyers and press freedom advocates are sounding alarms after a Mississippi newspaper was forced by a judge to delete an editorial criticizing city officials in Clarksdale.
The city sued the publishers of the Clarksdale Press Register over an editorial from February 8, which criticized officials for failing to notify the public about a hearing on proposed tax increases.
On Tuesday, without a hearing to review the allegations, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ordered the newspaper to “remove” the column from its website.
…The editorial was removed from the newspaper’s website on Wednesday.
..It is unclear what Espy believes is “false” and “malicious” about the editorial. A city clerk even submitted an affidavit admitting she “failed” to notify the media about the hearing.
“It’s hard to imagine a more unconstitutional order than one compelling a newspaper to take down an editorial critical of the government,” Seth Sterns, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told The Independent.
“And it’s particularly ironic when the editorial in question is about government secrecy undermining the public trust,” he added. “If anyone previously trusted the secretive officials involved in this censorship campaign, they shouldn’t now.””