Who is a journalist?
Apparently, bloggers don’t get journalist protection. Of course, I don’t think journalists should get any special protection. But, if they do, it should apply to everyone, which would make it not special.
4 Responses to “Who is a journalist?”
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December 8th, 2011 at 10:33 am
The Occupiers here in Nashville have discovered that if they all claim to be journalists, the cops will either:
1) Not arrest anyone because the local news media will crucify them for arresting a journalist whose only credentials are “Hey! I said I was a journalist! Don’t you see me recording this on my iPhone?”
or
2) Arrest everyone who, including a journalist whose only credentials are “Hey! I said I was a journalist! Don’t you see me recording this on my iPhone?” and then get crucified by the media.
December 8th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
Sounds like a small newspaper ought to hire ALL bloggers as ‘freelance journalist’ and then ALL bloggers would be covered!
Just need to find one good little ONLINE newspaper to be willing to pay say $5 a year to each blogger for rights to their stories.
Simple, no?
December 8th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
“The judge further ruled that even if Cox had qualified for shield law protections, they would not have applied to protecting the identity of the source of allegedly defamatory content in a civil trial. “Because this case is a civil action for defamation, defendant cannot rely on the media shield law,” he said.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57339016-93/oregon-judge-rules-bloggers-arent-journalists/?tag=mncol;mlt_related
That aside, this isn’t a ruling that bloggers can’t be considered journalists for the purposes of the shield law. Just that bloggers aren’t automatically journalists. One of the powerful things about blogging is that anyone can do it.
December 8th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Then again, why should journalists be protected?
However, HERE is the part that makes this decision the idiocy that it truly is:
did not qualify for shield-law protection not because of anything she wrote, but because she wasn’t employed by an official media establishment.
. . . although defendant is a self-proclaimed “investigative blogger” and defines herself as “media,” the record fails to show that she is affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system. Thus, she is not entitled to the protections of the law.
This idiot judge is locked into the old model of media. She is a SELF-EMPLOYED journalist and her media is blogging.
Furthermore….
What in the hell is an OFFICIAL media establishment?