The embarrassing First Amendment

[Mike Haas]

The embarrassing First Amendment

New York Times
Jayson Blair
NY Times impressive fiction writer who defended his actions with the flippant remark "you can't believe everything you read in newspapers."

Washington Post
Janet Cooke
Wrote a story about an 8 year old heroin addict. Cooke was awarded a Pulitzer Prize .... but the award was abruptly taken away when it was discovered there was no 8 year old, no heroin and no addict.

St. Petersburg Times
Tom Zucco
Wrote an article entitled "The Bambi Expressway." Tom probably hasn't been seen in the state of Pennsylvania since writing that pathetic piece. His former friends Buddy, Rick and Gary are still lookin' for him.

Dateline NBC
Michael Gartner
In an attempt to persuade viewers that the gas tanks in General Motors trucks were unsafe, reporters rigged a truck to explode when struck in the side by a car. NBC news president Michael Gartner resigned after unsuccessfully trying to justify one of the biggest gaffes in the history of broadcast journalism.

CNN NEWS
John Zarella
In an attempt to convince viewers that the assault weapons ban which will sunset in 2004 should be reinstated by the U.S. Congress, CNN's John Zarella faked a demonstration to show that the banned guns are more powerful than the non-banned guns. The demonstration was rigged by having a deputy fire bullets into concrete blocks to show the difference between the guns. However, CNN later admitted the deputy fired into the ground when he was supposed to be firing the non-banned gun at concrete blocks.

http://NRAMembersCouncils.com/wayne/cnn/
http://NRAMembersCouncils.com/hammer/

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If there is anything "embarassing" about the First Amendment, it's the fact that

appeal to the First Amendment is, at bottom, appeal to the right to be wrong. At the top of your voice.

[Consort]

Freedom of depress.

[breakem]

They distort. We decide.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[fishbabe]

and because of websites like free republic,its getting harder and harder to hide the truth and that scares the hell out of liberals....

[The Red Zone]

Well they do have a right to be wrong at the top of their voice.

[Technogeeb]

and because of websites like free republic,its getting harder and harder to hide the truth and that scares the hell out of liberals....

If some people get their way, that trend might not continue. Once all machines and operating systems are Palladium (digital rights, i.e., restrictions, management) enabled, the content on sites without an authorized digital signature won't load. If the top-level authority (either government or industry, and with the capability there it won't be hard for government to usurp that power) decides they don't like what you're saying, they will be able to revoke your site's certificate, and then no one will be able to see the content.

The days of a free web are quickly coming to a close, and no one even seems to be noticing.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Well they do have a right to be wrong at the top of their voice.

Of course! But the only time they feel the need to appeal to the First Amendment is when they've been caught!

And if you haven't had all traces of shame surgically removed, that can be embarrassing!

[Teacher317]

Gotta be numerous examples from the Boston Globe

[RightWhale]

The days of a free web are quickly coming to a close, and no one even seems to be noticing.

The day that happens there will be other problems. The full Nineteen Eighty-Four isn't going to be allowed.

[sauropod]

Uh oh. More info pls.

[lilylangtree]

ping

[Barney Gumble]

I agree, but a lot of it is "catch me if you can." For every Dateline story that is rigged, how many of them have been faked that you don't know about.

Free republic, other website like news max & world net daily, fox news, and talk radio have liberals mad, because they were used to having a lock on the outgoing media.

[Arpege92]

"They distor, we decide"



I like that!

[Arpege92]

distor=distort

[L,TOWM]

How did ABC's hit piece on Food Lion not make this list?

[mrustow]

How did ABC's hit piece on Food Lion not make this list?

How about, because this is a list of phony stories, and ABC's story was true? Or is the difference between truth and fraud irrelevant to you?

You don't, by any chance, work for Food Lion, do you?

[Grampa Dave]

Amen and ditto to your reply, Because of websites like free republic,its getting harder and harder to hide the truth and that scares the hell out of liberals!

[L,TOWM]

Sorry. The food lion stories were debunked long ago. The improper handling of the meat shown in ABC's "story" was being done by the ABC reporter. The raw video footage contained one of the legit food lion meat counter workers berating the undercover guy for not following procedures.

This was a case of food lion responding to lawsuits and complaints by cleaning up their act; ABC got to the "scene of the crime" late, and decided to embellish what they found, just like NBC attaching a device to the side mounted gas tank of a GM truck. Same kind of BS story.

So, do you work for ABC?