Ron Collins for First Amendment News:

Last week, I posted excerpts from Professor Richard Hasen’s essay on how the government might best identify professional journalists for access to government events, as well as the related protections afforded to journalists. In Part IV of that essay, as I highlighted in those excerpts, Hasen took issue with certain arguments tendered by FIRE in its amicus brief, which was filed in the Ninth Circuit in TGP Communications v. Jack Sellers (FIRE’s Ronnie London, counsel of record).

In the spirit of fairness and the free exchange of ideas, I invited the FIRE folks to reply, which they accepted. And to add a bit more conceptual fuel to the “FIRE,” Stephen Rohde also entered the fray with his own reply to Hasen.

Both are featured below.

The “fiery” exchange will continue next week, when professor Hasen will return with a rejoinder to his critics.

Meanwhile, let the word go out: We’re on fire here at FIRE! And expect more heat (and light too) in the days and months to come.