• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Senate panel OKs measure defining a journalist

OC for ME

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
12,452
Location
White Oak Plantation

JustaShooter

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
728
Location
NE Ohio
More chillingly, I suspect it is a way to curtail 1st amendment rights in general and most notably prevent anything other than the "officially recognized press" from having the protections afforded the press.
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
This is going to be fun. Several other totalitarian regiems have tried to cut out bloggers - who managed to survive anyhow.

Back when there was a need for a physical printing machine it was easier to pull off this sort of thing. Not so much any more.

stay safe.
 

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
I eagerly await the day when the old media, their monopolistic schemes (most notably copywrong and Imaginary Property), archaic business models, and armies of lawyers and lobbyists go the way of the dinosaur.
 
Last edited:

OC for ME

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
12,452
Location
White Oak Plantation
"We're closer than we've ever been before to passing a strong and tough media shield bill," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "Thanks to important bipartisan compromises, we've put together a strong bill that balances the need for national security with that of a free press."

Further down in the article...

Feinstein introduced an amendment that defines a "covered journalist" as someone who gathers and reports news for "an entity or service that disseminates news and information." The definition includes freelancers, part-timers and student journalists, and it permits a judge to go further and extend the protections to any "legitimate news-gathering activities."

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-shield-law-20130913,0,4553946.story
It seems that we are getting closer to a UK Official Secrets Act.
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
The legislature can define "journalist" all they want. They can even apply that definition in laws--until they use that definition to decide who has Freedom of the Press. As soon as they do that, the courts will apply their own (likely very broad) definition. If the legislated definition is not as broad as the one the court uses, the government loses the case.
 

paramedic70002

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2006
Messages
1,440
Location
Franklin, VA, Virginia, USA
Not too long ago some elected moron was on the news pontificating whether bloggers were "the press" and therefore deserving of First Amendment protections. HELLO!!! Every American gets First Amendment protection.
 
Top