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:
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‘Gag Order’: State Police Reroute Comms Through Colonel’s Office
Inside Investigator 2.18.26
“What’s being imposed here is a gag order, plain and simple.” Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Center (NEFAC), said of the policy’s restriction on sworn CSP members speaking to the media. While Silverman said more information about the policy, including whether there are consequences for violating it, is needed, similar types of restrictions on public employees’ speech are often found unconstitutional under the First Amendment because they impose prior restraint. Prior restraint occurs when government prohibits speech before it occurs. “The First Amendment protects the ability, in this case of police, to speak openly and candidly about their experiences. Any policy that prevents them from doing so and restricts the ability of journalists to have conversations with those employees raises many red flags.” Silverman said.
Maine Lawmakers Consider Bill to Seal Criminal Records 5-10 Years After Date of Conviction (video)
WGME 2.6.26
The New England First Amendment Coalition says while the bill’s intentions are good, there are other ways to protect the rights of former inmates. “What’s being proposed here is unconstitutional. It violates our First Amendment right to these judicial records,” Justin Silverman of the New England First Amendment Coalition said.
Mass. Officials Began Seizing Homes for a New Cape Bridge. They Won’t Say How Much They’re Paying for Them
The Boston Globe 2.5.26
The public’s ability to determine whether the eminent domain process is happening fairly depends on state officials being transparent, said Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition. “There’s no room for secrecy in this process,” Silverman said, adding that even if information on the payouts can legally be withheld, “that doesn’t necessarily make it good policy.” “You have a very expensive, high-profile project where families are having their homes taken,” he said. “The state should be doing everything within its power to be as transparent as possible given all the interests at stake here.”
Bill Would Limit Right-to-Know Requests to Residents
InDepthNH 2.3.26
Mark Hayward of the New England First Amendment Coalition spoke in opposition to the bill. “Let’s say someone from Massachusetts gets pulled over when he might believe he shouldn’t have been,” Hayward said. “Maybe there wasn’t probable cause. He should be able to file a right-to-know request and see if his assumption was correct.” Hayward gave another example of a Maine resident who wants to buy property in New Hampshire and wants to know about neighboring properties, selling issues or any disputes regarding the property. Hayward also noted that there are only a handful of states in the country that limit public record laws to residents. The committee did not take any immediate action on the bill.
EMS Gadfly or Journalist? Brattleboro Officials Debate First Amendment Protections (video)
WCAX 2.3.26
Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said such ordinances face constitutional challenges. “If they are passed at all, they are very quickly challenged and usually found unconstitutional,” Silverman said. “The right to record, the right to document what is going on in our communities, isn’t just a right for journalists, it’s a right for all of us.”
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.