Senate Bill 1181 explicitly adds news media as an entity protected under the state’s Citizen Participation Act, which prohibits “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPPs. It was spurred by a recent state Supreme Court ruling that allowed a defamation suit filed by a former government employee against the Chicago Sun-Times to progress.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.