provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The League of Women Voters of Sanibel is proud of the educational programs we have offered this season. As a non-partisan organization serving Sanibel and beyond, we strive to provide our supporters with the facts through speakers and panelists who are experts in their fields.
Our most recent luncheon and panel discussion on Monday, March 16, at the Sundial Beach Resort focused on “Freedom of the Press Today.” We invited three panelists closely related to First Amendment rights: Frannie Block, Miriam Pepper, and Scott Ponce, Esq.
Frannie Block, an investigative reporter at The Free Press, covers the forces shaping American life. She began her career with breaking news at the Des Moines Register and has family ties to Sanibel, where she often lives or visits.
Miriam Pepper is the former Editorial editor for the Kansas City Star, and a Pulitzer Prize winner for her work as a journalist. She resides on Sanibel with her husband.
Scott Ponce, Esq., is associated with Holland & Knight’s Miami office and focuses on Media & Intellectual Property Law. He has represented national and local media outlets in defamation suits, public records litigation, and prepublication review of articles and broadcasts.
This writer took copious notes as panelists answered questions from our moderator, Janice Chaddock. You can view a video recording of the program; just email us at lwvsanibel@gmail.com for the link.
There were also a number of questions posed by the audience that were fielded by the panelists, including the following:
What is the state of journalists and press freedom?
Panelists varied from “bleak” to “democratized.” It is more difficult today for the mainstream publications, such as newsprint and legacy TV, to survive both economically and legally. The rise of social media sites and the Substack arena makes it hard to compete in the fast-track world of news today. There are worries about the sustainability of journalism as a career; there is a concern about journalists victimized by violence, which is an ongoing threat to freedom of the press.
What has been the impact on mainstream journalism from the internet and social media?
The overarching issue of what is true (or misinformation or disinformation) is now embedded in our nation’s psyche; it is much more difficult to distinguish truth from lies or from “deep fakes” created by artificial intelligence. The instantaneous nature of social media, from the spectrum of politics and policy, does not allow for nuance or substance. Law firms specializing in First Amendment cases are concerned with journalists’ sources and defamation suits; many judges have not been thoroughly educated about today’s vast information landscape (much of it still untested).
What about the future of journalism?
There is an ever-growing lack of trust in the media; as our panel agreed, there is a “trust crisis”. In addition, Americans seem to turn their backs on the media, with low engagement and some apathy. They agreed that although the “public square” is filled with often-silly algorithms on TikTok, we still need reliable information and fact-based truth from ethically grounded, trustworthy sources. A deeper dive into civics education and how to discern fact-based truths is more important to education than ever before. Our panelists underscored “media literacy” as an important part of our information future.
The League’s final luncheon of the season is Thursday, April 9, 2026, at the Sundial Beach Resort. Bernie Feliciano, Chief Deputy Supervisor of Elections for Lee County, will speak on “Free and Fair Elections: Busting Myths & Setting the Stage for the Mid-Terms.” We will also hold our 2026 Annual Meeting and invite all members to participate. RSVP by April 2: tinyurl.com/5n8379un.
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