Field Notes on the Republic

Ida B. Wells and the Discipline of the Record

Ida B. Wells and the Discipline of the Record

Michael Fowler

In 1892 a young Memphis editor lost three friends to a lynch mob, and what Ida B. Wells did next invented much of how investigative journalism is done. Facing a...

Ida B. Wells and the Discipline of the Record

Michael Fowler

In 1892 a young Memphis editor lost three friends to a lynch mob, and what Ida B. Wells did next invented much of how investigative journalism is done. Facing a...

The Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, Counted

The Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, Counted

Michael Fowler

The First Amendment is the most quoted line in American civic life and one of the least carefully read. It is forty-five words long, and inside them are not one...

The Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, Counted

Michael Fowler

The First Amendment is the most quoted line in American civic life and one of the least carefully read. It is forty-five words long, and inside them are not one...

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

Michael Fowler

In 1735 a German immigrant printer sat in a New York jail for setting the type of a paper that criticized the royal governor. By every rule of law then...

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

Michael Fowler

In 1735 a German immigrant printer sat in a New York jail for setting the type of a paper that criticized the royal governor. By every rule of law then...

Near v. Minnesota, the Case That Buried Prior Restraint

Near v. Minnesota, the Case That Buried Prior R...

Michael Fowler

On June 1, 1931, the Supreme Court ruled for a newspaper almost nobody would want to defend, a scandal sheet, by a single vote, and settled one of the most...

Near v. Minnesota, the Case That Buried Prior R...

Michael Fowler

On June 1, 1931, the Supreme Court ruled for a newspaper almost nobody would want to defend, a scandal sheet, by a single vote, and settled one of the most...