George Freeman
George Freeman is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of The New York Times Company and the William J. Brennan Visiting Professor at the Columbia Journalism School. He has been Assistant General Counsel, primarily responsible for the Company's litigations, since 1992. He also is involved in newsroom counseling, antitrust and distribution problems, employment relations, and business counseling involving the Times's news, advertising, circulation, and personnel departments. He has worked in these areas for the Company's affiliated newspapers as well since he began work for the Times in 1981.
Freeman is co-chair of the American Bar Association's Litigation Section's First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee. He is also past chair of the ABA's Forum on Communication Law. From 1992 to 1996, Freeman was chairman of the New York State Bar Association Media Law Committee. Previously, he had served as chair of that organization's cameras in the courts subcommittee. He also chairs the Access and Newsgathering Subcommittee of the Newspaper Association of America's Legal Affairs Committee.
He is a frequent lecturer and moderator of panels on First Amendment issues and has been on the Practicing Law Institute's Communications Law faculty since 1985. He also was founder and remains co-chair of the Boca Conference, a winter meeting on First Amendment issues bringing together 250 media attorneys nationwide which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.
He has participated in a conference in Moscow on "Democratic Governance and a Free Press" with Russian government officials, and has toured China as a member of the New York Bar Association Delegation.
In 2000-01 he was co-chair of an ABA Task Force on jury initiatives and in 2001-03 was co-chair of its Task Force on the Public Perception of Lawyers.
Prior to coming to the Times, Freeman was an associate at the New York law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he represented the Times in litigation of several significant cases.
Since 1998, Freeman has been an adjunct professor at New York University, teaching media law courses to both undergraduates and graduate journalism students. Since 2007 he has taught at the graduate journalism school of the City University of New York, and in 2009-10 he taught at the Columbia Journalism School. Freeman was a lecturer-at-law at the University of Miami Law School in 1975-76, following his cum laude graduation from Harvard Law School in 1975. He graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1971. From 1973 to 1974, Freeman served as assistant to the Dean at Vermont Law School.
Topics
The New York Times & the First Amendment: From the Pentagon Papers to Wikileaks
Who should decide if classified, national security information is disseminated to the public, the government, or the press? The answer to this question and the delicate and often antagonistic relationship between the government and the press will be highlighted in this timely talk, with special focus on the recent Wikileaks exposures of American diplomacy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Wikileaks disclosures will be discussed in the context of the most significant First Amendment case in our history, the Pentagon Papers case, decided 40 years ago this year, including its little-known backstory. The Bush Administration's pledge to prosecute the Times for its recent articles on warrantless wiretapping, which were claimed to jeopardize the War on Terror (including a face-to-face showdown between Times executive editor Bill Keller and President Bush), will also be discussed.
Is There a Defense for False Speech? Are the Rules Different on the Internet & the Rest of the World?
Should the First Amendment provide a defense even for false and damaging speech, and whatever the traditional print rules are, should they be different in the 24/7 “Wild West” world of the internet? Indeed, American libel law is far more protective of the press and of speech than is the rest of the world. In fact, Congress last year passed a law allowing our courts to disrespect the libel judgment of other countries, because they don't meet our First Amendment standards. Do our laws make it too easy to falsely attack someone? How do the tabloids and gossip shows get away with hurling dirt at celebrities? And is the mudslinging at public officials keeping capable citizens from entering public life? These questions and more will be addressed by keynote speaker George Freeman, newroom and First Amendment lawyer for The New York Times.
Contemporary First Amendment Issues in American Media
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