trochee | (no subject)

regarding this attempt, by one of my Senators, to spike protection to citizen journalists within the proposed shield law.

I wrote Senator Feinstein:

in re: US Sen 448:

Please do not strike the provisions that shield unpaid and/or anonymous journalists. The shield laws suggested here should apply to the *act* of journalism, not only those who can afford to be paid for it.

The spirit of the shield law -- protecting journalists for doing their work towards uncovering and reporting the truth -- is entirely in the spirit of American liberty. Anonymity (and unpaid work!) goes back at least to Ben Franklin and Tom Paine.

Choosing to create a "protected class" of paid or professional journalists merely leaves the unprotected class -- journalists working to report, agitate, or explore, despite the absence of a patron -- even weaker.

Please withdraw your amendment to US Sen 448.

[trochee]
California resident, US citizen and voter

[ETA] If you live in a state with a Senator on the Judiciary committee, write him or her yourself. The list is here.

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Facebook it so other us citizens can copy, paste and send.
:-)

done!

Emailed, and let my citizen journalist buds in Vermont and Illinois know about it.

you'd *think* this would be common sense and that Al Franken would be on the right side of this already but yeah, I should probably let Minnesota friends know just in case, too.