Sunday, December 07, 2014

Freedom of the Press

Our Constitution speaks of freedom of the press, not freedom for the "institutional press" or freedom for "professional journalists".  Thomas Paine was not a journalist, he merely published an influential pamphlet:
With the national explosion of partisan political blogs and shady, fly-by-night websites offering purposely skewed and inaccurate interpretations of hard news events, I recently asked the Secretary of the Senate to put together a definition of what qualifies as a legitimate journalist.

My concern focused on the confusion that could result if a number of partisan bloggers requested official credentials to cover legislative happenings from the press rooms located in the rear of each chamber at the State House.

Allowing agenda-driven bloggers the same access and legitimacy as serious, long-established and unbiased reporters could soon create a confusing, circus-like atmosphere and blur the line between promoting opinions and reporting facts.
This man is an idiot.  A dangerous idiot.  That he's a Republican is irrelevant to me, his idea is inimical to a free press and a free people.

2 comments:

maxutils said...

I don't think he's and idiot; not everyone who writes a blog gets a White House press pass. Not everyone who writes for an established newspaper or tv show gets one, either. But -- I will agree that it doesn't seem like a really good precedent to establish that certain people couldn't get them, ever … even if they won't, ever. so no to the definition … just continue to not provide them to those without credible backgrounds.

Jerry Doctor said...

"...serious, long-established and unbiased reporters could soon create a confusing, circus-like atmosphere and blur the line between promoting opinions and reporting facts."

Is that how Media Matters and the NYT get their quotes?