A Mississippi state judge ordered a newspaper to remove an editorial criticizing city officials from its website, a move that First Amendment experts say is unconstitutional prior restraint.
Mississippi Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin granted a request on Tuesday from the government of Clarksdale to issue a temporary restraining order against the Clarksdale Press Register. The order commands the newspaper to unpublish an editorial that criticized the Clarksdale Mayor and Board of Commissioners for failing to notify media of a special meeting, as required by state law.
That February 8 editorial, "Secrecy, deception erode public trust," has now been removed from the Press Register's website. (A reprint can be found here.) But, as is often the case, the attempt to censor the newspaper has only brought national attention to it.
