Bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the proposed federal shield law, the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), told the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Monday afternoon.
I've written before about the dangers of government assuming it gets to decide who an authorized journalist is.
We've seen a politically disfavored newspaper publisher denied entry to a Homeland Secury press conference.
We've explored instances where bloggers have covered vital liberty-related stories ignored by the "official" press.
We've seen judges presume to weigh in.
At the federal and state level.
I personally have been subjected to police harassment for asking Sarah Brady a question at my neighborhood park. And I personally have shielded the identity of a source in order to protect him from reprisal for information about the inner-workings of a government agency. On more than one occasion. (In the interest of full disclosure, I now have a press pass issued by my magazine publisher--but the majority of my writing was done before this, and I don't believe a card should give me privileges and immunities over other bloggers--plus there's no guarantee the government would consider writing for a gun magazine to be "legitimate" journalism.)
And we've seen how "establishment" media, like Reuters, are little more than propaganda outlets.
Dick Lugar can go to hell.
Times are far too serious to allow any Tom Dick or Harriet to call him/herself a journalist. Real journalists go to journalism school, where they learn to report responsibly!
ReplyDelete< /sarcasm >
I don't know if you want to look that close, but I'll bet his real name is Dickless Lugar! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTalk about Newspeak.
ReplyDeleteLet me see if I have this right. Under Lugar's bill the government gets to determine who is a reporter so that they may "report on something without going to jail". Implied is the possibility that an unapproved and governmentally non-designated reporter could go to jail for reporting on something.
So, knowing what we know about government, we can expect that the people relying on the government for their designation as legitimate journalists to be malleable of their own volition and eventually subject to restriction of what they may report and mandatory assignment of what they must say. And NO, that is not too great a reach, we have ample example of just that very dynamic in hundreds of areas of our daily lives.
In summary, by giving government the power to designate who may be a journalist, which will lead to regulation of journalists and journalism and licensure of same we will be protecting freedom of the press.
Can the language be perverted enough to make this sound reasonable? I think not!
Perhaps he should change the spelling of his name to Luger. He seems determined to put a bullet in the head of Lady Liberty.
Eh, Ummm.....Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances....
ReplyDeleteThink that about covers it.