(N.Morgan) In another blow to our Freedom of Press, Officer Paul Harris openly threatens the Greene County Herald, and their editor and journalist Vaduva over a panhandling ordinance.  On Sunday, Dayton, Ohio police officer Paul Harris threatened a Greene County Herald journalist with arrest. Reporter Virgil Vaduva has in fact been arrested while in the course of reporting and taking photographs, but this would be the first time he was threatened with arrest for debating an off-duty police officer on Facebook. This is yet another sign our freedoms are being stripped away from us daily. You cannot criticize or expose the police or govt entity, without being threatened or harassed. We are losing our Freedom of Press right along with our Freedom of Speech.

Xenia City Council Given Ultimatum Over Panhandling Ordinance from Greene County Herald on Vimeo.

The whole thing started after the Greene County Herald posted several videos related to protests against the City of Xenia’s anti-panhandling ordinance. We ran some of these videos too, and talked to Vaduva about his act... outside of his work with the local news source. The City of Xenia, Ohio has banned being poor and asking for money within township limits. Now activists like Virgil have changed the game with civil disobedience “panhandling protests” where they donate the money collected to charity. They’ve given the city three months to scrap the law or face a federal lawsuit!

Back in 2013, the City of Xenia passed Ordinance 13-31 which essentially prohibited poor people from asking for any form of assistance. In response to this, last Thursday, three local activists crashed a Xenia City Council meeting to demand the law be scrapped. Vaduva was one of them. He told the City Council that the City has three months to ditch this illegal and unconstitutional law, otherwise, they will be slapped with a federal lawsuit.

First Amendment: Freedom of the Press (1791)

The Founders saw the right to publish one’s views as anatural right, and considered a free press a means of ensuring justice in government. While written to apply to actions of the federal government, the Supreme Courtincorporated the amendment into state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment in the case Near v. Minnesota (1931).

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was a precursor to this amendment, holding that “the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

Supreme Court cases centered on press freedom includeNew York Times v. Sullivan (1964), New York Times v. United States (1971), and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1989).

The Alien and Sedition Acts presented the first challenge to freedom of the press in the early republic, outlawing speech that was critical of government. Matthew Lyon was the first person jailed under this law, for his printed criticism of President John Adams.

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