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Michigan man arrested after threats to kill CNN employees, citing “fake news.” Jury finds that Chicago ex-Sheriff Dave Clarke did not violate First Amendment rights of detainee by taunting him on Facebook. Montana becomes first U.S. state to set its own net neutrality rules. Leery of economic reprisals, lawmakers in Southern states dial back efforts on transgender bathrooms and religious freedom. -Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director

The most pressing threats and notable goings-on in free expression today

U.S.

Michigan man arrested after caller threatens to kill CNN employees
Authorities arrested a Michigan man after he allegedly called CNN several times, threatening to kill employees at the network’s Atlanta, Georgia, headquarters, according to a federal affidavit.
CNN

Jury finds ex-Milwaukee Co. Sheriff David Clarke did not violate man’s free speech with taunting Facebook posts
Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke did not violate a man’s free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at Clarke while boarding a flight, a federal jury concluded.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Montana Becomes First State To Set Its Own Net Neutrality Rules
Montana just became the first state to establish its own net neutrality rules since the Federal Communications Commission ended the popular policy in December.
HUFFINGTON POST

Wary, Weary or Both, Southern Lawmakers Tone Down Culture Wars
With elections looming and major corporations watching, the social issues that have provoked bitter fights in recent years across the conservative South—including restroom access for transgender people and so-called religious freedom measures—are gaining little legislative momentum in statehouses this year.
NEW YORK TIMES

 
Global

Judge delays bail decision on detained Myanmar journalists
A Myanmar judge postponed a decision on bail until early February for two Reuters journalists detained on charges of violating a British colonial-era secrecy law that a former military junta once used to muzzle freedom of speech.
ABC NEWS

Turkey ‘terror propaganda’ crackdown sees dozens arrested for social media comments
Two reporters for the Turkish branch of German newspaper Tageszeitung were detained and had their homes searched in Ankara. The arrests were part of a wider clampdown on critics of Turkey’s military operation in Syria.
DW

Former South Korean Culture Minister Jailed Over Censorship Scandal
South Korea’s former culture minister, Cho Yoon-sun, has been sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring in a state-sponsored blacklisting of local artists and entertainment figures who did not support the country’s ousted ex-president.
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Russia pulls ‘despicable’ comedy Death of Stalin from cinemas
Russia’s culture ministry has withdrawn permission for the release of Armando Iannucci’s black comedy The Death of Stalin, after officials and top arts figures labeled it offensive and extremist.
THE GUARDIAN

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