Can the Press Prevent a Trump Restoration? (this is how they think)

nytimes.com ^ | 12/8/21 | ROSS DOUTHAT

[kiryandil]

Democracy is endangered right now because one party defrauded the nation with a criminal election.

One party, and their Assistants in the other party...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

What branch of the US government does the Media represent? They seem convinced that they have an active role to play in US elections besides just reporting the News.

The scandal is that “the media” exists as an entity at all. Two things:

1. In the second half of the 19th Century the wire services in general and the Associated (get it? associated) Press in particular homogenized journalism. Journalism coalesced decisively about journalists’ shared interest in attracting attention and influence. You know, “if it bleeds, it leads” and suchlike.

2. The 1964 New York Times Co. v. Sullivan decision asserted that the First Amendment modified libel law. That was a novel and unconstitutional interpretation. The reason being that none of the amendments in the Bill of Rights was intended to modify anyone’s existing rights. In a sense the first eight amendments are basically window dressing, and the ninth and tenth amendments tell the tale. Whatever rights existed before the passage of the first ten amendments - including the right to sue for libel - existed unchanged after the passage of the BoR.

There is a dire need for a case to be brought to SCOTUS enabling it to reconsider Sullivan . Thereby enabling libel suits to destroy “the media.” Most especially the wire services. They are killing us.