Free Republic

Going further than the Treasury Department's tacit support for debanking alleged "hate groups" after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a State Department component that "strengthen[s] resilient democratic societies" developed a more sweeping plan for financially choking off disfavored narratives a month later. The U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a "Disinformation Primer" that appears to have been started in "late 2020," judging by a reference to the most up-to-date "social media initiatives" by Facebook and Twitter "to address disinformation and misinformation."It was still being written at least 10 days into the Biden administration, referring twice to the Jan. 31,...

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JPCA) is a bait-and-switch attempt that claims to help conservative news sources but would instead purge them from the marketplace of ideas, and Congress should reject it for the freedom-killer it is. JCPA would give media companies—broadcast and print—an exemption from federal antitrust laws, so they can operate in a coordinated fashion to negotiate prices that social media companies like Facebook would have to pay them to carry their content. It would ensure that these tech billionaires would have to direct some of their riches into content providers. But that’s a Big Boys’ game...

Accused Capitol rioter John Sullivan sold video footage he recorded at the Jan. 6 siege to NBC and CNN for $35,000 each, according to new court papers. The news came as prosecutors on Tuesday tried to ban the Utah provocateur — a self-styled anti-Trump activist who they allege infiltrates protests to cause chaos and record video footage — from accessing social media, according to Politico. Sullivan maintains that he is a journalist for his website Insurgence USA — and his defense attorney filed invoices for the $35,000 that NBC News and CNN each apparently paid for rights to use the...

A Colorado judge's threatened contempt sanctions against Fox News investigative reporter Jana Winter—who refuses to reveal a confidential news source—has refocused public attention on how journalists operate. News must often be gathered from confidential sources, or not at all. Given how vital is the freedom of the press in a democracy, that confidentiality must be maintained. It is time that Congress recognize this and enact legislation that enables journalists to protect their confidential sources and newsgathering materials. Ms. Winter covered the July 20, 2012 mass shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 others in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater....

Professional journalism groups reacted with alarm after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas released an opinion Tuesday urging the high court to reconsider a landmark freedom of the press decision called New York Times v. Sullivan. The Sullivan ruling generally shields reporters and news platforms from libel or defamation lawsuits provided they were acting in good faith. Though journalists believe that protection is essential, Justice Thomas said the high court was wrong to usurp the role of states in regulating libel. “[Sullivan] and the Court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law,” Thomas’s opinion reads. “We should not...

On Tuesday, I was asked to testify to Congress about a proposed bipartisan “Shield” law that would protect reporters from going to prison if they refuse to reveal their confidential sources. There are exemptions in the proposed law for instances where national security is at risk or lives are in danger. (Thank you to Congressmen Jordan, Raskin, Meadows, Palmer, Krishnamoorthi and Grothman.) At the hearing, I was asked about the government intrusion of my computers. CBS Confirms Sharyl Attkisson’s Computer Hacked The testimony starts :55 minutes into the YouTube link of the hearing below. If you’re interested in the questions...

Based on a true story, The Post follows the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katharine Graham (Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents.

CNN is kicking off a new series to discuss “challenges facing the media,” and Brian Stelter is leading the way. The series, called “Free Press, What’s At Stake,” is meant to focus “on the challenges facing the media, under attack from critics, governments and changing technology.” It was kicked off by CNN’s Brian Stelter, who penned a column published Sunday titled, “Whose freedom is it?” Stelter wrote, “Press freedom is YOUR freedom. That’s the way I recommend thinking about ‘freedom of the press,'” adding, “it’s about MORE than just journalists. Turn it around. Recognize how protections for the press benefit...

Appearing on Fox News’s Outnumbered on Friday, former United Nations ambassador John Bolton blasted NBC’s Chuck Todd for taking to Twitter on Thursday to attack President Trump’s “un-American” criticism of the media during a press conference: “I thought that tweet was one of the most foolish things I've seen from the media in a long time, and you know, that's a pretty low bar there. The media is not entitled to worship.” He continued: “It's not entitled to respect as an institution. It’s not entitled to deference by political leaders. It is entitled under the First Amendment to say what...

"First he came for the whistleblowers and I didn't speak up because I was a liberal...." A conference called "Sources and Secrets" was held a few days ago at the Times Center in New York. The conference is described as "A conference on the press, government and national security." It's supported largely by left wing organizations and news outlets. At the meeting James Risen of the NY Times expressed an interesting opinion: New York Times reporter James Risen, who is fighting an order that he testify in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer accused of leaking information...

Not Every Leak Is Fit to Print Why have federal prosecutors subpoenaed a New York Times reporter?by Gabriel Schoenfeld 02/18/2008, Volume 013, Issue 22 Investigations of national-security leaks in Washington are not all that rare. But until Judith Miller of the New York Times was sent to jail for 85 days by a special prosecutor digging into the Valerie Plame imbroglio, investigations of such leaks in which journalists are subpoenaed were about as common as unicorns wandering the National Mall. We now have another such unicorn. On January 24, a federal grand jury in Alexandria issued a subpoena to...

The number two Republican in the Senate is lambasting a media “shield law” proposed by New York Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer, potentially imperiling its shot at passage. “This is a bad idea and one whose time has not come,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate minority whip, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview. “Believe me, we will not be rolled over.” Schumer’s “Free Flow of Information Act” passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, and he recently said he already has the 60 votes needed to pass the bill on the floor. “We’ll get a few more Republicans, not...

Matt Drudge called Sen. Dianne Feinstein a fascist after the California Democrat suggested that only "professional" journalists deserved protection under a new media shield law."I can't support it if everyone who has a blog has a special privilege … or if Edward Snowden were to sit down and write this stuff, he would have a privilege. I'm not going to go there," Feinstein said during Thursday's hearing.Drudge reacted to Feinstein's comments on Twitter after stories of the media shield law were highlighted on his Drudge Report website."Comments from Sen. Feinstein yesterday on who's a reporter were disgusting," he wrote, adding...

The vote was 13-5 for a compromise defining a "covered journalist" as an employee, independent contractor or agent of an entity that disseminates news or information. The individual would have been employed for one year within the last 20 or three months within the last five years. It would apply to student journalists or someone with a considerable amount of freelance work in the last five years. A federal judge also would have the discretion to declare an individual a "covered journalist," who would be granted the privileges of the law.

In response to the acknowledged abuses of his own Justice Department, President Obama has urged Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to reintroduce legislation for a "journalist shield law." And in typical Washington fashion, the proposed act would do nothing to prevent the abuses that supposedly make the law so necessary. We saw a similar response to the horrible Connecticut school shootings last December -- a raft of laws that wouldn't have prevented the tragedy in the first place. It seems that whenever government fails to do what it is supposed to do with the laws already on the books, the answer...

Whether bloggers count as journalists has mostly been a matter of esoterics for reporter types. But as Congress weighs a media shield law in response to the Associated Press/Justice Department subpoena scandal, the question is gaining an urgency that lawmakers are finding hard to ignore as they turn to writing the bill. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took on the issue—and stumbled. "Who is a journalist is a question we need to ask ourselves," he said. "Is any blogger out there saying anything—do they deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times." The verbal...

Shot: President Obama’s speech today: Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law. That is why I have called on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government over-reach. I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have directed the Attorney General to report...

According to Editor & Publisher and other sources, the Senate has worked out the wrinkles of a federal shield law to protect news gatherers from being forced to reveal confidential sources. The issues holding it up were from the White House involving classified leaks and national security issues. The major surprise however is it apparently covers freelancers and “citizen journalists,” a euphemism used to describe bloggers. "The negotiated compromise creates a fair standard to protect the public interest, journalists, the news media, bloggers, prosecutors and litigants," said Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., a cosponsor of the Free Flow of Information Act...."

A potentially key witness to a killing last month in San Francisco - a college journalism student - is invoking a state law aimed at protecting working journalists' sources and unpublished material in refusing to cooperate with police.The 22-year-old student at San Francisco State University was present when Norris Bennett was shot on the street in Bayview-Hunters Point and took photos that police believe could help them find the killer.But the student maintains that he was on the scene as part of a school project chronicling life in the community, and that his witness account and the photos he took...

At the kick-off event for the 2008 American Magazine Conference in San Francisco, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi opened the proceedings by telling the 400 magazine executives in attendance that she's a "addict of magazines." "San Francisco is a magazine city," the California resident added. Pelosi couldn't resist taking a few shots at the current administration, especially when discussing the failed shield law: "The shield law died in Senate because the administration didn't want the bill to go through. ... As soon as we have a new Congress and a new President, we will have a new shield law."...