According to a free press nonprofit, New Mexico is one of the most vulnerable states in the country to lawsuits that could threaten First Amendment rights.
The analysis by the Institute for Free Press, conducted in 2023, is as relevant as ever in light of recent lawsuits filed against news organizations by president-elect Donald Trump.
Trump recently won a $15 million judgement against ABC News in an example of what has come to be known as strategic lawsuits against public participation — or SLAPP suits.
Thirty-three states in the country have anti-SLAPP laws to protect people exercising their First Amendment rights.
The IFP ranks New Mexico 29th among those 33 states in terms of the strength /of their existing anti-SLAPP legislation. Seventeen states have no such laws to protect freedom of speech.
Bill Church, who began his tenure as the executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican last fall, told KSFR that while he’s very concerned about the impact of SLAPP suits, he isn’t yet at high alert around his own publication’s vulnerability.
“Fortunately, we haven't had to deal with it. The SLAPP lawsuits — we'll deal with them if they come," said Church.
"What's happened across the country with a lot of news organizations is a diminished sense of their First Amendment responsibilities, and also diminished resources to be able to do the right thing.”
The Institute for Free Press describes New Mexico’s anti-SLAPP legislation as quote “relatively narrow.”
But Church cites the Foundation for Open Government and the “better than average health” of the state’s news organizations as reasons to see New Mexico in a fairly resistant position.
The incoming 47th U.S. president has two pending lawsuits in Iowa — one against a pollster whose data had predicted a Kamala Harris victory — and the other against the Des Moines Register for publishing the poll.
You can hear the full interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Bill Church for the KSFR show, The Forum, on our website.
