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Dreps champions First Amendment

Dreps champions First Amendment

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drepsWhile most people haven’t heard of Robert Dreps, they have benefited from his work, said April Rockstead Barker of Schott, Bublitz & Engel SC, Brookfield.

“Bob’s work has protected and enhanced the public’s access to information that is essential to ensuring government accountability,” she said. “This is a legacy that transcends specific disputes and benefits every citizen of this state.”

Dreps is a member of the litigation and media practice groups in the Madison office of Godfrey & Kahn SC. He has represented a variety of newspapers and media outlets seeking to get records or defending their work on a story.

The attraction to newspapers stems, Dreps said, from the fact that it is the only industry mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

“The founding fathers knew the only way to guarantee freedom of speech was to guarantee freedom of the press. It is that important,” Dreps said. “People depend on the media to report on what the government is doing since we can’t all be at every meeting. Free speech principles are vital to open government and representative government can’t operate properly without it.”

Of course, media has changed significantly since the Constitution was written and those ongoing changes can prove challenging, he said.

“New technology and social media allow more freedom of speech and more voices are being heard,” he said. “But on the downside, we are losing a common frame of reference, like when everyone sat down and watched the evening news on one of the three network stations.”

As media outlets continue to fragment across the political spectrum, he said, “There’s some danger that objective truth [is] being lost.”

Some media outlets are struggling, Dreps said, which means they have fewer resources for investigation and watchdog reporting, as well as paying to litigate.

“Fortunately in Wisconsin,” he said, “we still have newspapers who are vigorous in their watchdog role.”

Barker said Dreps always is willing to help attorneys and journalists who have questions about open records or First Amendment law.

“Bob has devoted his career to advocating for transparency, access to public information, and freedom of speech,” she said. “And even apart from his work on his own cases and on committees and boards, he unfailingly makes himself available as a personal resource for others in the field.”

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