n Evening with Harvard Law Professor Martha Minow, Author of Saving the News: Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve Freedom of Speech

Join the Hudson Library & Historical Society on Thursday, February 1 at 7 p.m. for a virtual author event with former Dean of Havard Law School and professor of law Martha Minow, who will discuss her new book Saving the News. Saving the News provides a detailed argument of how our government has interfered in the direction of America's media landscape, traces major transformations in media, and charts a path for reform.

Saving the News focuses on the extent to which our constitutional system is to blame for the current parlous state of affairs and on our government's responsibilities for alleviating the problem. Minow argues that the transformation of media from printing presses to the internet was shaped by deliberate government policies that influenced the direction of private enterprise. In short, the government has crafted the direction and contours of America's media ecosystem. Building upon this basic argument, Minow outlines an array of reforms, including a new fairness doctrine, regulating digital platforms as public utilities, using antitrust authority to regulate the media, policing fraud, and more robust funding of public media. As she stresses, such reforms are not merely plausible ideas; they are the kinds of initiatives needed if the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press continues to hold meaning in the twenty-first century.

Martha Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She has taught at Harvard Law School since 1981, where her courses include civil procedure, constitutional law, family law, fairness and privacy, international criminal justice, jurisprudence, law and education, nonprofit organizations, and the public law workshop. An expert in human rights and advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and women, children, and persons with disabilities, she also writes and teaches about AI and legal issues, and about how societies transition from war and atrocities to regimes committed to democracy and justice. Minow served as Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and was the inaugural Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor. She currently is the chair of the MacArthur Foundation, and a member of the governing boards of the Campaign Legal Center, the Carnegie Corporation, and public media GBH.

Registration for this program is required and a valid email address is required at the time of registration. Participants will receive an email invitation a day before the program begins.