NEFAC’s expert testimony appears in news media across the country and its advocacy attracts considerable press coverage. Below are links to stories we’ve appeared in during the current year. Coverage from previous years can be seen here:
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025
RWU Journalism Student Participates in 2025 Gloria L. Negri First Amendment Institute
Roger Williams University 2.3.26
Addison Mason, a Journalism major from Atkinson, N.H., was one of just seven students selected to participate in the 25th annual Negri Institute, held in October at Boston University. The highly competitive fellowship brings together emerging and established journalists from across New England to deepen their understanding of First Amendment principles and contemporary reporting practices. . . . Offered by the New England First Amendment Coalition, the intensive, weekend-long program featured academic presentations, networking sessions, and in-depth discussions with journalists, editors, and professors. Fellows explored topics including press freedom, ethical reporting, and the evolving role of journalism in a changing media landscape.
Police Officer Resigns Amid Allegations of Relationship with Vulnerable Teen (video)
Boston 25 2.2.26
Justin Silverman, Executive Director of the New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC), criticized the department’s refusal to release even redacted documents. “This isn’t just about police transparency. This is also about our weak, if not broken, public records law,” Silverman stated. “Surgically redact information that can be redacted under the law and release everything else.” . . . “We need a way to change the law to make sure that the law is being followed,” Silverman said, “and more broadly, change this culture of secrecy that we’re seeing in Massachusetts right now.”
Somerville Shares Heavily Redacted Public Library Investigation
Cambridge Day 1.28.26
Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC), says it’s unclear who’s being protected, given that the case is already public. “If the employee’s name is already public knowledge and many of the facts of the particular case are already public knowledge, then there isn’t as much privacy to protect,” he said, adding, “The city should be giving far more information than it is.” . . . While “no state has the perfect law,” according to Silverman, Massachusetts is “pretty far down on the list” in terms of public records access. “You have this huge body of records that the public isn’t entitled to,” he said. Massachusetts is the only state in which the executive, legislative and judicial branches are all exempt from public records disclosures. (For decades, governors have claimed exemption, including Gov. Maura Healey in 2023, despite saying a year earlier when she was attorney general that the governor’s office should not be exempt.) Enforcement is also an issue. Silverman explained that in Massachusetts, the supervisor of records (currently Manza Arthur) issues rulings or determinations about records requests, but those decisions aren’t binding. “The supervisor doesn’t have any power to take these cases to court,” he said, “so those rulings are only as good as the paper that they’re written on.” Silverman cited Connecticut as a New England state with stronger enforcement mechanisms for public records requests. There, an independent commission hears public records disputes, and any member of a public agency who fails to comply with the law is considered guilty of a misdemeanor.
Delays, Denials, Determinations: State Health Dept. Slowwalks Media Records Requests
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism 1.22.26
Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said the situation at the DPH is not unique. “Various government agencies slowwalk requests or ignore them so they don’t have to release information they don’t want to,” Silverman said. Adding, “More broadly speaking, the issue is enforcement.” “If those in government aren’t following the laws themselves and are working in secrecy,” Silverman said, “then we don’t know how the decisions that affect us are being made.”
The First Amendment, Decoded
Simmons University 1.20.26
The Simmons Center for Information Literacy recently presented “Information is Power: The First Amendment, Public Records, and the Press,” a mini-conference designed to address how we can all exercise our First Amendment rights. Here are some quotes from one of the presenters, Justin Silverman, Attorney and Executive Director of the New England First Amendment Coalition.