Right to profit versus right to speech. Early court decisions unfavorable to Nelson led to the state Supreme Court on June 11. In a courtroom filled with Nelson's supporters, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Jim Lobsenz urged Nelson's reinstatement to reporting, showing how state laws and the state constitution protect activist workers from retaliation by employers. But DeVore insisted that Nelson's off-duty concerns could nonetheless damage the paper's appearance of objectivity, and thereby injure its sales. This is ridiculous.
Nobody believes that the media is objective.
Most people, however, correctly blame its slantedness on the huge, powerful businesses who own it, not on working-stiff reporters who care enough to get involved in civic affairs. Lobsenz warned the court against accepting the paper's position by drawing it to its logical conclusion. Publishers could ban women from covering abortion, he said, Blacks from covering O.J. Simpson's trial, or Jews from writing on the Middle East. The court could take several months to issue a ruling. Debate over role of reporters comes to the fore.