Fake news was illegal in 17th century colonial Massachusetts

Re:Fake news was illegal in 17th century colonial Massachusetts by jfoutz on Tuesday May 08, 2018 @02:57PM (#17023682)

I'm really happy to have my freedom of speech. I don't think i would do well under the classic Puritan model.

I do sometimes wonder if there's room for a special class of formal speech for journalism. Grant rights perhaps formalizing protecting a source. But also require some responsibilities. Not sure what the standard should be, but we do the same thing for lawyers and doctors.

Also "pernicious to the publick weal" is an amusing phrase.

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Re:Fake news was illegal in 17th century colonial Massachusetts by jadedhacker on Tuesday May 08, 2018 @03:02PM (#17023735)

For what its worth, we did do this though it is in part a sort of detente between prosecutors and journalists.

This wall has been eroded, with some of the most striking erosion happening around the threatened prosecution of James Risen for refusing to disclose a source.

https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/my-life-as-a-new-york-ti...

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