The LWV Central Vermont and Montpelier’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library continued their partner-ship with a new series of programs on the First Amendment.

The First Amendment provides the following protections:

• Congress may not establish a religion
• Free exercise of religion
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Right to assemble
• Right to petition government

The first program addressed Freedom of the Press, held at the library on May 4.

Former Politico editor Garrett Graff moderated an all-star panel made up of Anne Galloway, founder and editor of VTDigger and the executive director of the Vermont Journalism Trust; Jim Sabataso, a freelance writer and a regular contributor to the Rutland Herald, writing about Internet culture and media literacy in his weekly "Click'd" column; and Matthew Byrne, First Amendment specialist in the Burlington law firm of Gravel and Shea.

There was some discussion of the impact of the Internet and the ease of spreading “fake” news and opinion. The primary point the panel made was the threat to press freedom represented by the decline in the number of reporters working in the mainstream press. This means, for example, a decline in inves-tigative reporting of the sort epitomized by the Washington Post coverage of Watergate. On a state level, there are fewer reporters in state houses, covering whatat is happening on a daily basis. You can watch the whole discussion at Orca Media:

https://www.orcamedia.net/show/freedom-press