This is a first step toward having government-sanctioned journalists. This ruling needs to be appealed.
4 thoughts on “A Dangerous Precedent”
Comments are closed.
This is a first step toward having government-sanctioned journalists. This ruling needs to be appealed.
Comments are closed.
In Ben Franklin’s time, weren’t pamphleteers the rough equivalent of bloggers? And didn’t our Constitution later recognize them as part of the press?
Shame on you Alan for paying attention in History class.
While the judge’s comments are highly questionable, in this particular case he appears to be making the right call. What the blogger is calling blogging or reporting is in this case just commenting on somebody else’s blog. Posting a blog comment is not “reporting” any more than writing a letter to the editor is.
The various journalist professional organizations should be leaping to her defense. Are you only a journalist when you have a full-time journalism job? What does that mean for freelancers? What business does the government have in saying this person but not THAT person is a journalist.
Anyway, from what I have just read, what this woman wrote was true. Truth used to be a defense, as I learned in J-school. s a journalist. The judge should have seen that what she wrote was true, and thrown the case out.