Reads of the Week: Government Interference in Media, Mental Health in Prisons, and National Anthem Mandates

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Learn more about how the Writing Fellows Program can help boost your writing career!

Congress’ Big Media Collusion Bill Will Only Encourage Censorship and Undermine Small Publishers by Satya Marar (Spring 2020) in the Washington Times

In the name of protecting journalism and media diversity, Congress has come up with a bizarre scheme: an antitrust law carve-out that allows media companies to collude and form cartels to push big tech into toeing their line.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is a bipartisan bill that’s being debated by both houses of Congress and is supported by media industry groups like the News Media Alliance. It comes with altruistic promises to support fledgling local newspapers by forcing tech platforms to pay their “fair share” for news, and allowing outlets to boost their bargaining power by collectively negotiating with others…

Jailing People in Mental Health Crisis Hurts All Michiganders by Diana Prichard (Fall 2020) in Bridge Michigan

Like many states, Michigan’s models for policing and community mental health need to be strengthened to meet the needs of citizens experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis, as well as law enforcement officers and hardworking taxpayers.

Fortunately, a handful of innovative community-led partnerships around the nation offer a roadmap for improvement. This year, lawmakers should draw on the experience of those who have gone before us and implement a next-generation pilot program that employs best practices while building on their success with Michigan-centric solutions…

States Move To Force Sports Teams To Play the National Anthem by Jason Russell (Fall 2014) in Reason

For the first time, some states are moving to turn the decades-old cultural norm of playing the national anthem before a sporting event into a legal requirement.

On Wednesday, Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill (S.B.) 4, which will require professional sports teams to play the national anthem at the start of each preseason, regular season, and postseason game hosted in Texas. Enforcement is not criminal, which supporters say gives the law more leeway under the First Amendment. Instead, the law requires all financial agreements between pro sports teams and state and local governments to include written verification that the team will play the anthem. If a team fails to comply, it would default on the financial agreement and suffer whatever consequences the agreement spells out…