Mocking the police got an Ohio man arrested – and the Supreme Court ignored The Onion's plea to define the limits of parody
- Written by Jane E. Kirtley, Professor of Media Ethics and Law, University of Minnesota
Satire can be dangerous.DigitalVision Vectors/Getty ImagesCan Americans be jailed for making fun of the government? Most would respond with a resounding “No, of course not! The First Amendment protects us from that.”
But Anthony Novak learned otherwise in March 2016, after he created and posted a fake version of the Parma, Ohio, Police...