Saturday, March 29, 2014

Your Government Seeks To Stifle News Media (Anything New?)

The Obama Administration is in favor of them.  So is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R).  So is House Speaker John Boehner (R).  What are they?  "They" are bills currently before both the U.S. Senate and House to greatly increase government authority over news media.  H.R. 1962 would "maintain the free flow of information . . by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media (my emphases)".  "Maintain(ing) the free flow of information" by "federally compelled disclosure"?  Looks more like the forced flow of information (from journalists to authorities) to me!  You need to read this thing, especially Sec. 2:  Free Flow of Information Act of 2013.  Then there's the Senate version of this monstrosity which goes informally under the same name, and which has the support of both Sen. Chuckie Schumer (D) and Sen. "Spaghetti-spine" Lindsey Graham (R).   

With the support already on record from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) for defining who is and isn't a journalist, and thus worthy of First Amendment protections, do you really think that your alternative media (such as this blog) can survive the passage of this onslaught?