Judge orders Mississippi newspaper to delete editorial criticizing public officials

 

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.

In her order, the judge noted that the case involves allegations of “defamation against public figures through actual malice in reckless disregard of the truth and interferes with their legitimate function to advocate for legislation they believe would help their municipality during this current legislative cycle.”

The editorial was removed from the newspaper’s website on Wednesday.