Friday, August 05, 2005
BIG MEDIA OLIGARCHY AND INSIDE THE BELTWAY INTRIGUERS
An absolutely superb column by Bruce Kesler on the ripples of elitist self-interest that surround Judith Miller and the Plame investigation. An excerpt:
" Almost 80 news organizations, including top newspapers and TV networks, support such a bill before the House of Representatives. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, provides valuable insight to their lobbying effort (www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=178). They have enlisted the Newspaper Association of America, representing the business side of their industry, to take the lead. The NAA membership includes nearly 1,200 publications and another 300 corporate owners. A reason the NAA was put at the lead is the NAA's, although relatively small, campaign donations generally favor Republican candidates, helpful in appealing to a Republican-majority Congress.
Another major driver behind such a federal shield law is the giant campaign contributor, the Communications Workers of America, which includes the 34,000-member Newspaper Guild (whose president, Linda Foley, slandered the U.S. and its military by accusing them of purposely targeting journalists in Iraq, but refused to back her claims).
...There are many who question such a bill for another reason: the issue of who is a journalist. As I've previously discussed ( www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$32524), the Federal Elections Commission held hearings to write rules that may restrict bloggers and other new journalists from the media exemption enjoyed by the old media under the McCain-Feingold election finance reform law.
None of the definitions of who is a journalist stand up to distinctions offered about original reporting, extent of readership, qualifications, etc. The same questionable distinctions are a problem in drafting a federal shield law. Some journalists from the media enjoying the media exemption have reflected on this difference of legal protection among journalists that is without a distinction."
There's a lot more. Bravo Bruce ! ¶ 7:48 AM
An absolutely superb column by Bruce Kesler on the ripples of elitist self-interest that surround Judith Miller and the Plame investigation. An excerpt:
" Almost 80 news organizations, including top newspapers and TV networks, support such a bill before the House of Representatives. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, provides valuable insight to their lobbying effort (www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=178). They have enlisted the Newspaper Association of America, representing the business side of their industry, to take the lead. The NAA membership includes nearly 1,200 publications and another 300 corporate owners. A reason the NAA was put at the lead is the NAA's, although relatively small, campaign donations generally favor Republican candidates, helpful in appealing to a Republican-majority Congress.
Another major driver behind such a federal shield law is the giant campaign contributor, the Communications Workers of America, which includes the 34,000-member Newspaper Guild (whose president, Linda Foley, slandered the U.S. and its military by accusing them of purposely targeting journalists in Iraq, but refused to back her claims).
...There are many who question such a bill for another reason: the issue of who is a journalist. As I've previously discussed ( www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$32524), the Federal Elections Commission held hearings to write rules that may restrict bloggers and other new journalists from the media exemption enjoyed by the old media under the McCain-Feingold election finance reform law.
None of the definitions of who is a journalist stand up to distinctions offered about original reporting, extent of readership, qualifications, etc. The same questionable distinctions are a problem in drafting a federal shield law. Some journalists from the media enjoying the media exemption have reflected on this difference of legal protection among journalists that is without a distinction."
There's a lot more. Bravo Bruce ! ¶ 7:48 AM
