Then how the hell is he supposed to avoid triggering them?
The press doesn't need a "trip wire," they're looking for a problem to have. - papertygerThe press IS the trip wire. -oh8eleven
“The press” is mentioned in the First Amendment, but - contrary to the impostures of journalists - “the freedom of the press” is not limited to members of the Associated Press or the National Press Club. Nor to the physical press of the 18th Century. The Constitutioncontemplates and encourages “progress of . . . useful arts,” and among the useful arts the propagation of opinion by other than in-person speech is not excluded.
- Article 1 Section 8.:
- The Congress shall have power . . . To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries . . .
does not establish a ceiling over the rights of the people. Rather, as
- Amendment 1:
- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
makes plain, it is to be understood only as a floor under our rights. Thus “the freedom of the press” can be appropriately generalized to be the right of the people to spend money on technical means of propagating opinions. Any other reading, IMHO, amounts to making “the press” either a title of nobility or an established religious priesthood - both verboten under the Constitution.
- Amendment 9:
- The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.