Ensuring Press Freedom needs to be respected everywhere
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Peter Weiss Joint Head of Department
Partner Corporate, Commercial & Finance +44 20 3206 2725 Email Peter
When a raid on a newspaper in a small town in Kansas, with a population of under 2,000 people, makes international news then there must be something at stake worth paying attention to and addressing.
What appears to be a local police response to the newspaper covering a local political story has been picked up by national press across the US and by most UK papers and perhaps beyond.
The story raises alarm bells and calls into question press freedom in the US, which has historically prided itself on ensuring the protection of free speech (which has been in recent years a particularly heated topic around the limits of social media). Now the question is how will this local issues will be determined by a trial or of whether some other intervention will be taken, and while this is a small town, a lot of people and particularly the press will be interested in the outcome
Whatever the result, it reminds us all to be cautious about the threats to free speech and the importance of ensuring press freedom and independence.
Other Insights
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18th June 2026The Department of Business and Trade issues updated guidance on the meaning of significant influence or control for the purposes of the PSC regime.
An overview of the UK’s updated PSC guidance, focusing on “significant influence or control” and how businesses can identify and assess PSC status in practice.
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21st May 2026Lifting the lid on claims of “parental alienation” – increased access for journalists in family court proceedings
An overview of a recent High Court decision exploring increased transparency in family courts, with a focus on parental alienation and journalist access.
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8th May 2026
Taxi for “directing mind and will”! A suitable vehicle has arrived: the Crime and Policing Act 2026
From 29 June 2026, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (“CPA”) significantly expands corporate criminal liability in the UK. Companies and partnerships may now be held liable for any criminal offence committed by a senior manager acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority, regardless of where the entity is incorporated. In practice, as we discuss in this note, application of the attribution test is not as straightforward as advertised and the likelihood of prosecution will depend heavily on the application of public interest factors.
Read more