Okay, before we move forward on this one, let me state one thing very
clearly. I am not a Journalist. Never claimed to be one and never
will. I am proud to call several people friends who are journalists
both on the national and more local levels of the scale. They work
very hard to uncover the truths about things of importance and then
report those truths as accurately as possible to the world around
them. Me I just read the daily efforts of Journalists and cadge any
of the good bits for my own use. Okay now that we have covered that,
moving on.
Now the above article doesn't really go into a lot of details and
given the source, it has the usual “THE GUBBERMINT IS TRYING TO
TAKE OVER!” flavor to it. Until I can actually read the Bill in
question, I will reserve comments on the actual Bill being put forth.
My comments are more on the idea of “defining journalist”
concept. I think it is high time we actually do redefine or even
just define exactly what it means to be a journalist.
Traditionally (and this has been fought many times) Journalists have
certain understood rights which help them protect themselves and
their sources. IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion) these rights and
protections are fully deserved and should never be abrogated in any
shape or form. Lately I have been seeing quite a few people claiming
these same protections as their right because they were
“Journalists.” The problem with these claims is that the vast
majority of them were simply Bloggers who were regurgitating (Usually
in large volumes) things that they had read or heard reported without
bothering to check to see if what they read was the actual truth.
See most Bloggers are much like me. They go on and on and on ad
nauseous about the topic of the day citing Faux News or the Communist
News Network. They rant about the latest Facebook lie and give their
opinions about it. Very few bother to do any research as to whether
the stories are true. These are not journalists, they are merely
parrots with diarrhea of the mouth. In my defense I do usually try
to find out as much as I can about a subject before I rant about it,
but even I have been guilty of not doing my research a few times.
(And boy do my readers let me know it! Lol)
So we really do need to define exactly what it means to be a
Journalist. My Brother, Mr. Baker, is one of the most honest hard
working Journalists I have ever met. He studies and researches every
single bit of information that goes into his newspaper before it is
printed. He also prints stories because they are true even when he
knows those stories might get him in trouble. He has been shot at
many times for his work and had his house riddled with bullets for
the same reason. HE is a journalist and deserves our respect and
protection. Most bloggers do not deserve that title and yes I still
include myself.
Don't get me wrong, the idea of the Government assigning “privileges”
to one of our most fundamental rights gives me a serious case of the
Heebies and Jeebies. That is like saying, “In national news today,
Mr. Fox was assigned to Security in the Chicken Houses.” Still
like I said, I will have to read the entire Bill before I do any
commentary on that.
In closing let me say this, Everyone has the right to give their
opinions either over the Interwebz or in real life. It is the 1st
Amendment. Hells you even have the right to say things that are
patently untrue. Of course, you also have the right to suffer for
what you might have said. Slander and Libel are the flip side to
freedom of speech. God Bless America!
End of Rant
TANSTAAFL!
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