National Newspaper Association criticizes Mississippi court

Feb 20, 2025

The Freedom of Press Watch — Feb. 20, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lynne Lance, executive director, lynne@nna.org

A restraining order that required a local Mississippi newspaper to delete an editorial critical of its city government should be immediately vacated, National Newspaper Association Chair Martha Diaz Aszkenazy, publisher, The San Fernando Valley (California) Sun, said this week.

The Clarksdale Press Register criticized its city government for holding a meeting without sufficient public notice. In its meeting, the city council reportedly decided to ask the state legislature to impose a tax on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. The newspaper questioned the council’s motives, saying perhaps it was just looking for a reason to lobby in Jackson, the state capital.

The council admitted it had failed to notify the newspaper of the meeting and then voted to sue it for libel. A Chancery Court judge issued an order requiring the newspaper’s critical editorial to be taken off the website and made a finding that “actual malice” had been involved in the decision to run the piece, according to The New York Times.

“I question that the judge has looked up the definition of actual malice,” Diaz Aszkenazy said. “Newspaper people are widely familiar with it. It requires a finding that the newspaper acted with reckless disregard for the truth, but the city admitted the truth of the lack of notice. There was apparently no untruth involved. More importantly, the newspaper is being punished for doing its job - reporting the truth about a local government decision. No judge should punish a newspaper for doing what it was created to do.

“These are perilous times for local newspapers," she continued. "Our economic base is under daily attack by large Internet platforms. Clarksdale is fortunate to have a local paper when many communities have lost their local news sources. We applaud the publisher for obeying the court order, as he should, but we hope an appeals court quickly educates the Chancery court on the values of the First Amendment.”

NNA also noted that public notice of matters involving taxes on citizens is also an important issue and a vital tool in preserving government transparency.

Diaz Aszkenazy said many states require notices in newspapers before undertaking public business of great importance.

“If the city council is looking for a lobbying opportunity, it might consider asking its legislature to make public notice rules on contemplated taxes clearer and to require publication in the local newspaper of debate on tax increases,” she said. “At a time when governments are being regarded so skeptically by citizens, local officials and their newspapers should work together to make government as transparent as possible.”

Wyatt Emmerich, president of Emmerich Newspapers Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi, said, "This lawsuit shows a blatant disregard for the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, which provides for freedom of the press. The City of Clarksdale is a governmental entity. The U. S. Supreme Court, in The New York Times  v. Sullivan, forbids the government to sue for libel. On top of that, this editorial is factually accurate and well-reasoned. The judge should not have issued a restraining order without having, at a minimum, held a hearing at which the Clarksdale Press Register was present. We are confident this abuse of the law will be overturned."