Posted on 09/08/2011 6:23:31 AM PDT by abb
ping
Before you license journalists you might want to repeal the first amendment.
A license is nothing more than a way to eliminate your competition using the force of law and the barrel of a gun.................
This would be funny if it did not represent such a threat to our right to free speech, and if such a requirement was not right up the narcissist-in-chief's alley.
It occurs to me that given a stupid and corrupt enough congress (and we HAVE given ourselves exactly that), some kind of law requiring journalists to be licensed by the FCC might actually have a chance of getting passed during an Obama administration... strictly in the name of “fairness”, mind you.
They’ve already found a way to license the second amendment, now they want to license the first amendment. If they get away with that, how soon will they want to be the ones to decide what is a “real” church and start licensing religions?
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/09/after-labor-day-media-musical-chairs/42167/
After Labor Day, Media Musical Chairs
http://www.cjr.org/feature/fade_to_black.php
Fade to Black - As a video revolution sweeps the world, US television news caps its lens
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=157452&nid=130725
Winners and Losers: The Changing Media Ad Landscape, 1980-2011
http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/dish-network-s-blockbuster-netflix-rival-expected-month/229610/
Dish Network’s Netflix Rival Expected Next Month
Blockbuster, Bought by Dish This Year, Already Has Streaming Tech in Place
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/07/us-facebook-idUSTRE7863YW20110907
Exclusive: Facebook doubles first-half revenue
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Media_economy_57/Forecast-Not-so-hot-second-half-afterall.asp
Forecast: Not so hot second half after all
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Broadcastrecap_64/Big-Four-sink-boosting-Univision-to-No-1.asp
Big Four sink, boosting Univision to No. 1
I don't think it's supposed to be limited to "journalists," but then I am not a megalomaniac.
The first amendment applies only to hand operated single sheet, hand operated printing presses. It doesn't apply to fully automatic, high speed presses of today. And it certainly doesn't apply to "street sweeper" internet posts. < /applying anti-second amendment "logic" to the first amendment>
Every time someone complains about bloggers and amateur journalists, we need to shout about the effects of Buckhead and the famous post #47 which brought down "professional" journalist Dan Rather in 2004. The journalists have become a self-protecting guild and only voices from the wilderness can proclaim the truth.
“I’m sorry sir, you’re not authorized to either have an opinion or ask a question.”
“You’re under arrest!”
Let's rephrase...
< What is a whore? A woman who performs a sex act for cash. So then, what is a prostitute, a call-girl, an escort, a courtesan? And what's the difference between a crack whore, who does 20 men a night at $10 bucks each, to feed her habit, and the $5000/night lady of Elliot Spitzer's dreams.
And what of the woman who accepts no cash, but allows herself to be flown to exotic locals, wined and dined at the best places, and then showered with baubles from the best jewelers? In return, she knows what is "eeeeexpected" of here..
These are all far more relevant questions than "what makes a journalist?"
Excellent point, thanks for posting!
Obama would love licensed journalist, it would allow them to shutdown so much of the internet.
It's too late.
If liberal elites outlaw our speech - restricting 'speech' only to "licensed" elites, we still have iphones, ipads, blogs that will appear and disappear quickly. We understand technology. They can't suppress everything.
The real reason newspapers are dying is because when the truth started coming out - they were exposed as purveyors of liberal myths... Their allegiance was to push an agenda at the expense of truth. That understanding - of who they really are - will never go away. It's why in public places when groups are together, the MSM is booed...
Another reason is that most local newspapers just take AP stories, cut them to fit around advertisements and then add the local sports scores and obituaries. There is very little original journalism in the typical local newspaper. If I get access to the original AP story from any source, then I really don't need to read the local paper.
Newspapers might as well wrap their ads with PRNewswire copy - the stuffs free... The original idea behind AP was good - kind of the equivalent of seeing a TV commercial created by whizzbang Madison Avenue firms rather than the local company with a fat used car dealer yelling 'buy from the Big Shade Tree dealer" or some such garbage. But it doesn't matter because it's all part of the same liberal elite groupthink. AP makes the 'sell' look better - just as Madison Ave does with ads - but not more truthful - and it's all from the same point of view.
There was a time when reporters came from blue collar backgrounds. They knew what was going on in the community because they lived there. Now it's highly educated elites writing for each other. For an in-house rag that would be fine - for a general circulation paper it's the kiss of death.
Your comment about local news is well taken - but again - local news that springs from the same elite liberal group-think isn't going to connect to many readers outside the circle of 'elites'. Yes, Virginia there are Tea Party members in YOUR community. Important stories are missed - and worse, stories the great unwashed know are bogus, are repeated endlessly.
For example, Newspapers support local United Ways. They support the charities involved - the missing children, homeless, abused women, blankets for bums - whatever. Now how truthful is that reporting? Does it reflect what commen people know as the truth? No. The 'missing children' scam disappeared without much comment after it turned out some of the statistics had been ginned up by saying a child who was returned from custodial visitation 10 minutes late was "missing' statistically. Newspapers didn't explain why that one was dropped - from papers or milk cartons. They should have - it would have made an interesting story.
Remember all the 'homeless' stories - with pictures of 'mom, dad, and two blue eyed children' - a sob story that would eat your heart out. Except that family was the exception - used to bleed money from the community but far from the truth. The mentally ill - the drug addicted and criminal wouldn't fit the liberal myth, but their story needs to be told so the problems can be dealt with. And why do so few street people use the 'charities' that are set up to 'serve' them? Reporters talk to their fellow liberal elites running the facilities - and strangely get the exact same story. Same with education. Papers back union teachers and their story gets told. And only their story. Local reporters ONLY add value to a paper if readers feel some truthful understanding is being offered by their writing...(Seriously - give me a topic and I'll tell you how a liberal reporter will cover it - it's that boring) Value doesn't come from elite groupthink rehashing the same stuff endless - from the same position - over and over and over etc etc. ( see how it feels?) For many papers, PRNewwire to wrap around their ads will do just fine.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/145411/wapo-publisher-katharine-weymouth-sees-new-media-as-them-not-us/
Washington Post publisher Weymouth sees new media as ‘them,’ not ‘us’
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110908/media_nm/us_dealtalk_washingtonpost
Dealtalk: Not For Sale? ... The Washington Post
And what is journalism? Apparently, Holesgrove defines journalism as being solely the pursuit of and presentation of objective facts: something he doesn’t seem to think most bloggers are capable of. At one point, he describes All Things Digital writer Kara Swisher and TechCrunch writer Paul Carr as “journalists acting like bloggers,” but then adds later that he doesn’t think Carr is a journalist at all because he isn’t objective. After some more back-and-forth about TechCrunch, the author then comes to the conclusion that we have an “objective journalism problem.”Nobody can know that they themselves are objective. There are people who are trying to be objective, and there are those who are not even trying to be objective, but there is no one who is objective and knows it. Anyone who claims to be objective, or who presumes to know who else is objective, is not objective about themselves. But it is possible to discern that some people are not even trying to be objective. Anyone who claims to be objective, or claims that members of their own group are objective, is at that moment avoiding the painful humility which is the sine qua non for attempting objectivity.Anyone who thinks themselves qualified to license "objective journalists" is making no attempt to be objective. The trouble is that "objective journalism" is actually consensus wire service journalism.
Check out MeMaw Kate Graham’s granddaughter in post 18.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.