The Constitution says the government may not infringe on citizens’ right to freedom of the press. What was the press?
Was it a select group of professional writers? No.
The “press” is a device for making multiple copies of a single document, so that they can be widely distributed.
Freedom of the press, therefore, refers not to a group of people, but to the right of all people to use technology to make possible the widespread distribution of their thoughts and ideas. And yes, Gutenberg’s invention was exactly that — TECHNOLOGY.
That meant that anybody — ANYBODY — could either buy a press, or hire a press owner to publish documents.
This idea that there is a group of people called “The Press” who have special government dispensation to disseminate their ideas and opinions is a complete fiction.
The government has no authority to establish one set of rules for those whom it deems to be “members” or “the press,” or to give such people protections that are not available to ANYBODY else who uses technology to disseminate their idea.
The totalitarian leftists have spent the last hundred years claiming the right to ascribe new political meanings to words, and it is time We the People take the language back.
Impeaching judges who draw indefensible artificial distinctions over “who” constitutes the press would be a good start.
Whacked that out of the park. Nice post.