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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Jane E. Kirtley, Professor of Media Ethics and Law, University of Minnesota

Mocking the police got an Ohio man arrested – and the Supreme Court ignored The Onion's plea to define the limits of parody

Anthony Novak Onion Police Ohio Jerry Falwell Parma US Supreme Court
Satire can be dangerous. DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

Can Americans be jailed for making fun of the government? Most would respond with a resounding “No, of course not! The First Amendment protects us from that.”

But Anthony Novak learned otherwise in March 2016, after he created and posted a fake version of the Parma, Ohio, Police Department’s Facebook page.

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