Court rules school officials who attacked reporter’s speech not protected from lawsuit

A ruling from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has pulled “qualified immunity” protections from officials in a school district in Massachusetts who threatened a reporter for his decision to openly film his questions in the superintendent’s office.

The journalist, Inge Berge, went to the office, camera publicly visible and filming, to ask officials about their decision to limit attendance at a play involving Berge’s child over COVID-19, when the state limits already had been lifted.